Unexpected customer in the bagging area!
PERHAPS she’s wondering what to make Philip for tea.
Or maybe she’s casting an eye over the cheese aisle to see if any were made by her son’s Duchy Originals brand. Either way, it was a rare foray into the ‘real world’ for the Queen yesterday as she visited a supermarket in Dorset.
At 90, the monarch can only have been in a handful of grocery stores in her lifetime. She popped into Waitrose in Poundbury, the town built by her son, Prince Charles, who gave her a lavish hamper to take home.
There was even time to stop at the town’s new pub, named after her daughter-in-law the Duchess of Cornwall – although the Queen wasn’t persuaded to ask for her favourite tipple, a gin and Dubonnet.
The monarch, resplendent in a sky blue hat and coat by Stuart Parvin and a matching hat by Angela Kelly, was greeted by thousands of cheering well-wishers as she arrived in Poundbury with Charles, Camilla and her the Duke of Edinburgh.
She was given a tour of the town’s centrepiece, Queen Mother Square, before popping into Waitrose. The store isn’t an entirely surprising choice, given that it stocks Charles’ exclusive Duchy Originals range.
The supermarket had even pushed the Prince’s organic milk – which costs £1.10 for a two-pint carton compared to the store’s 89p version – to the front of the shelves.
The Queen also browsed the cereals – the sovereign famously keeps hers in a Tupperware box.
And before they left the Royal party picked up some shopping – free hampers worth hundreds of pounds, including dog treats and whisky.