WALKABOUT ON THE WILD SIDE

The Duchess of Edinburgh meets the Peruvian president, a giant tarantula and Paddington Bear on a tour of South and Central America

- JACK MALVERN

The Duchess of Edinburgh encountered a variety of jungle wildlife on her tour of Central and South America, but none of it got closer to her than Paddington Bear.

Sophie, whose ten-day tour comprised visits to Peru, Panama, Guatemala and Belize, clutched a replica of her fellow supporter of Anglo-Peruvian relations while visiting the British Embassy in Lima, before meeting the country's president, José Jerí.

Wearing a floral monochrome dress, the Duchess marked more than 200 years of the UK's collaboration with the country. Paddington dazzled in a blue duffel coat and red hat.

Her solo trip also included an encounter with a Goliath bird-eating spider, the largest tarantula in the world, during a jungle trek in the Peruvian Amazon. Although she appeared nervous, she held a leaf on which the spider was resting.