King Charles provides honours to uncommon goat that needed to be hidden from the Nazis
The King has granted a royal title to a rare breed of goat that was once hidden from the Nazis to ensure its survival.
The Golden Guernsey Goat will now add ‘royal’ to its breed name after King Charles bestowed the animal with a title in a ceremony on the Channel Island.
Charles, who made the trip with Camila, enlisted the help of local schoolboy Joe Martin, nine, to place an engraved brass bell around the neck of Summerville Tamsin, an eight-year-old, now Royal, Golden Guernsey.
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Royal titles are sparingly bestowed, based on the advice of the Cabinet Office and strict standards are applied.
Joe revealed he had washed ‘Tam Tam’, as he affectionately calls her, with Head and Shoulders conditioner the day before to ensure she was as silky as possible for her big moment.
(Image: Chris Jackson/Getty Images)
His mother, Rebecca, expressed her delight at the new royal title, saying: “It will give a much higher recognition of the breed and will hopefully safeguard their future.”
The dairy breed, distinguished by its golden skin and brown hair, boasts a unique history spanning 200 years.
They were believed to have become extinct until local woman Miriam Milbourne rediscovered the breed in the 1920s and began to keep them, concealing them in her home during the 1940s when Nazi forces occupied the island, reports the Mirror.
Milbourne then began a dedicated feeding programme in the 1950s, essentially saving their bacon.
(Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
After the ceremony, Prince Charles said: “You’ve got to keep it all going. I hear there is interest on the mainland too which is wonderful.”
During the trip, Queen Camilla was seen with a bandaged ankle after she snagged a heel mid-stride. She quipped to folks that she had to “hobble along” due to spraining her ligament just yesterday.
Eyeing someone’s sensible footwear, she commented: “I wish I had a pair of those.”
Earlier in the day, the King sampled a new craft beer named in his honour, joking he had “better not have too much”, as he and Camila were joined by 77 locals and veterans for a tea party in a marquee at the end of the Crown Pier.
Following the official ceremony, Camilla expressed her delight at the “remarkable treat” of being shown around writer Victor Hugo’s old digs.
The Duchess was visibly impressed by the stunning design and pristine gardens of Hauteville House, the abode where Hugo penned classics like Les Miserables during his 15-year exile from France due to his stance against Napoleon III’s rule.
During her tour of the historic home, Camilla couldn’t help but tell her guide Odile Blanchette how “wonderful” she found the legacy. Learning that Hugo bequeathed the house to the French state, which then turned it into a museum, the Queen Consort said: “How wonderful, what a fantastic gift.”
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