It ain’t half hot ma’am
I’m wilting in Far East heat says Camilla, 70
THE temperatures were in the mid80s and it was the second of three countries she was visiting yesterday.
So perhaps it was no surprise that the Duchess of Cornwall showed signs of wilting after she and Prince Charles arrived in Brunei.
Camilla, 70, revealed she was suffering in the 84F (29C) heat as the royal couple took tea with the Sultan of Brunei, one of the world’s richest men.
She joked: ‘I keep trying to tell everybody that I’m not as young as I used to be, and have to slow down.’
Asked by the sultan’s wife, Queen Saleha, how she was finding her 11-day tour of South East Asia, Camilla – who admits she finds hot weather draining – replied: ‘Very tiring. Every day, we’re nonstop. It’s more tiring as you get older.’
Earlier, she and Charles, 68, were festooned with garlands when they visited a Gurkha battalion based in Brunei.
While Charles chatted about their famous goat curry, Camilla – who wore an Anna Valentine tunic with palazzo trousers and carried a parasol – spoke to some of the soldiers’ families.
The couple had started their day in Singapore before flying to the oil-rich state of Brunei, where the 71-year- old sultan is celebrating his golden jubilee.
The Sandhurst- educated monarch, who is the world’s longest ruler after the Queen, has an estimated £15billion for- tune and a 1,788-room official residence with 257 bathrooms.
The royal couple ended their day in slightly cooler Malaysia, where they will spend six days visiting charities, business initiatives and the Malay jungle.
They will finish their trip in India, before flying back to England in the government’s VIP Voyager jet, having car- ried out around 50 engagements in 11 days. The couple’s tour is being treated as a semi-state visit after the Queen, 91, announced she would no longer undertake long journeys.
It is being seen as an important precursor to next year’s Commonwealth heads of government meeting, at which Charles will play a major role.