TRUMPETING A HUGE CONSERVATION CAUSE: KING CHARLES AND QUEEN CAMILLA HELP CELEBRATE 20 YEARS OF ELEPHANT FAMILY'S WORK PROTECTING THE PLANET'S GENTLE GIANTS

On a star-studded summer evening in the gardens of London’s Lancaster House, the King and Queen were joined by around 300 guests to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Elephant Family, the conservation charity founded by Her Majesty’s late brother Mark Shand

- EMILY NASH

“It transpires that today is actually Mark Shand’s birthday. And he would have been so thrilled to know that Elephant Family had managed to get its 20th anniversary,” the King told guests – including Dame Kristin Scott Thomas, who attended with designer Christian Louboutin, husband-and-wife actors Matthew Macfadyen and Keeley Hawes, novelist Jilly Cooper, musician Sir Brian May and actress wife Anita Dobson, Donna Air and daughter Freya, and the Marchioness of Bath.

Among them, too, were Mark Shand’s daughter Ayesha, and Annabel Elliot, the sister of Mark and Her Majesty. The Queen – elegant in a blue embroidered tunic top with matching palazzo chiffon trousers by Anna Valentine and diamond earrings by Van Cleef & Arpels – and King were presented with elephant masks carved by renowned Indian designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee from shola pith. This sustainable cork-like material is grown in the marshlands of Bengal and was traditionally used to make pith helmets.

LARGER THAN LIFE 

With HELLO! on hand to cover the colourful occasion, the King and Queen looked in great spirits as they chatted with guests and posed for photographs surrounded by life-size elephant sculptures, part of the charity’s 2021 Co-Existence exhibition across the Royal Parks. Some of the 125 sculptures from the exhibition are now permanently displayed in the gardens of Their Majesties’ private homes at Highgrove in Gloucestershire and Ray Mill House in Wiltshire.