Camilla brokers aid for Esther’s charity
THE Duchess of Cornwall proved a natural when she tasted life as a City broker yesterday but got clonked on the head by a dinosaur for her trouble.
Even for the wife of the Prince of Wales it was out of the ordinary to be surrounded by men dressed in 7ft dinosaur costumes asking her to trade a £200million four-month certificate of deposit – basically an IOU – on their behalf.
Favourite
It was the international brokerage firm ICAP’s annual charity day and Camilla, 71, was there to raise money for one of her favourite royal patronages, the Daily Expressbacked helpline for older people, The Silver Line.
Surrounded by dozens of brokers in fancy dress, Camilla took part in several complex trades. “One thousand at 63. Sold. Credit Suisse,” she told one client over the phone. “Brilliant. Thanks James. Have a good Christmas.
“Where do you get your costumes from?” she asked Chris Spencer, head of the commercial and local authority desk, whose dinosaur head had just bounced down and hit Her Royal Highness on the head.
The Duchess spent an hour on the trading floor and other parts of ICAP’s office near Liverpool Street in London meeting brokers with The Silver Line’s founder, TV presenter Dame Esther Rantzen.
The Silver Line was one of 17 UK charities and at least 100 around the world set to benefit from the day, during which ICAP donates all its brokerage fees to good causes. Now in its 26th year, it has raised £140million for 2,300 charities worldwide.
Dame Esther, 78, who launched The Silver Line in 2013 after experiencing loneliness following the death of her husband Desmond Wilcox, said she hoped the extra cash would help the charity recruit more staff to the helpline, aimed at the over-70s.
Resonates
She praised Daily Express readers for supporting the charity through the newspaper’s Christmas appeal: “They have been very good to us. I think it resonates with them. We can’t answer all the calls now – it’s only been going five years, but we have already had more than 2.25 million calls.”
Dame Esther and Camilla cut a fifth birthday cake, made by former Bake Off finalist Andrew Smyth, and later ICAP’s CEO Nicolas Breteau praised the Duchess’s prowess on the trading floor: “Well, she’s a natural. She pulled some very, very good trades.”