{"id":285714,"date":"2025-07-23T17:11:19","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T17:11:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/285714\/"},"modified":"2025-07-23T17:11:19","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T17:11:19","slug":"king-and-queen-see-begonias-and-tattoos-at-sandringham-flower-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/285714\/","title":{"rendered":"King and Queen see begonias and tattoos at Sandringham Flower Show"},"content":{"rendered":"

An ardent monarchist amused the Queen when he showed her a tattoo on his leg of her royal cypher and told her that it had \u201cbloody hurt\u201d.<\/p>\n

Phil Smith, 61, from Northampton, has four royal-related tattoos along the outer side of his left leg: Queen Elizabeth\u2019s royal cypher, Charles and Camilla\u2019s individual designs and the joint cypher of the King and Queen.<\/p>\n

Smith said: \u201cShe asked how long it [the latest one] took and I told her about one and a half hours. But I told her this one bloody hurt. She just finds it hilarious.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe pulled her police officer\u2019s sleeve and said \u2018Look, it\u2019s catching on!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Close-up<\/p>\n

Phil Smith has four tattoos dedicated to the royal family<\/p>\n

CHRIS RADBURN\/REUTERS<\/p>\n

He added that he often \u201cexchanged letters\u201d with Camilla, having first written to her before she married Charles, and was pleased because she \u201cfrequently responds\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI just think she\u2019s fabulous and have got to know her a bit. We just hit it off. I love the royal family and she in particular has got a good sense of humour. She frequently responds. I waited to see her to show her my latest tattoo and she laughed. She said one of her security men has also had it done too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Phil<\/p>\n

Smith has been writing letters to Camilla for years<\/p>\n

CHRIS RADBURN\/REUTERS<\/p>\n

The encounter took place when the King<\/a> and Queen<\/a> visited the Sandringham Flower Show.<\/p>\n

Attracting about 20,000 visitors, the one-day agricultural show has become a hardy perennial of the royal calendar.<\/p>\n

Charles and Camilla arrived in the \u201cVictoria\u201d, a doorless, horse-drawn carriage made popular during Queen Victoria\u2019s reign, and looked at displays of food and flowers.<\/p>\n

\"King<\/p>\n

Charles and Camilla\u2019s arrival at the show<\/p>\n

TOLGA AKMEN\/EPA<\/p>\n

Looking at some dog-themed cakes, the Queen said that her rescue puppy Moley<\/a> was \u201cvery naughty\u201d. She added: \u201cI think I only have one shoe left.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked whether she liked growing her own vegetables at Ray Mill House<\/a>, her Wiltshire home, Camilla said: \u201cYes, I do enjoy it. I\u2019m very proud of my veg. It\u2019s the best therapy in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The event will be the last major royal engagement for the King and Queen before they decamp to the Balmoral estate in Scotland for a summer holiday.<\/p>\n

\"King<\/p>\n

Charles and Camilla will return to London from Balmoral for the 80th anniversary of VJ Day<\/p>\n

CHRIS RADBURN\/REUTERS<\/p>\n

Charles is not expected to find time to meet the US president when he travels to Scotland to visit his golf course<\/a> later this month.<\/p>\n

The King had initially suggested an informal meeting with President Trump before the president\u2019s \u201cunprecedented\u201d second state visit. However, Charles is not scheduled to meet Trump<\/a> until he returns to the UK in September for a state visit at Windsor.<\/p>\n

During the summer, the royal couple will return to London for the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of VJ Day<\/a> on August 15.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, the Prince of Wales is due to attend the Euro 2025 finals in Basel, Switzerland, where he will cheer on England\u2019s Lionesses.<\/p>\n

After England defeated Italy<\/a> in the their semi-final on Tuesday, Prince William<\/a>, the patron of the FA, wrote on X: \u201cBrilliant performance @Lionesses! One game from glory! #WEURO2025.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An ardent monarchist amused the Queen when he showed her a tattoo on his leg of her royal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285715,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7708],"tags":[5105,7710,519,448],"class_list":{"0":"post-285714","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-royals","8":"tag-royal","9":"tag-royal-families","10":"tag-royal-family","11":"tag-royals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114903664801115711","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}