King Charles and Queen Camilla open their doors for Christmas photoshoot with rescue dogs

King Charles and Queen Camilla are pictured with adorable rescue pups from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home successful the charity's caller Christmas portraits - and precocious admitted they are looking for a caller pet

The King and Queen person opened the doors of their Gloucestershire property for a festive photoshoot with adorable pooches from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.

Rescue pups from the carnal payment charity, of which the Queen is patron, beryllium atop footstools with cushions created utilizing recycled drapery from curtains successful Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. Percy, Darcie, Elspeth, Harper, Missy and Shadow, who are each looking for caller homes successful clip for Christmas, travelling from the charity’s Old Windsor Centre to Charles and Camilla’s location successful Tetbury for the day. They posed connected a caller scope of bespoke footstools, crafted and finished by students and assemblage groups moving with Charles’s foundation The King’s Foundation.

Camilla precocious said a bittersweet farewell to 1 of her ain beloved Battersea rescue dogs, Beth, a 13-year-old Jack Russell terrier, who had to beryllium enactment down owed to illness. Camilla adopted Beth successful 2011 erstwhile she was a three-month-old unwanted puppy, and different jack russell, Bluebell, successful 2012 aft she was recovered wandering unsocial successful a London parkland with a achy tegument condition.

The King past week told TV presenters Alan Carr and Amanda Holden astatine the Royal Variety Show that helium and the Queen would beryllium looking astatine getting a caller canine for Christmas. Asked whether the Queen mightiness beryllium tempted by immoderate of the visiting dogs, a royal root said: “While it’s a small excessively soon for Her Majesty to commencement deciding connected a caller person for Bluebell, she remains a large protagonist of each the enactment that Battersea Dogs and Cats location does successful uncovering loving homes for each their rescue pets - not conscionable for Christmas but forever.”

Kaye Mughal, centre manager successful Windsor, said: “It was a peculiar time bringing immoderate of our dogs from Battersea’s Old Windsor Centre to Highgrove Gardens. They enjoyed the time out, experiencing visiting a caller spot and getting into the festive spirit. They besides enjoyed investigating retired immoderate of the unsocial footstools and person officially fixed them their approval.”

The six dogs - Percy, a saccharine four-year-old achromatic bichon cross; Darcie, a playful three-month-old achromatic Labrador puppy; Elspeth, an energetic and sociable one-year-old brownish cocker spaniel; Harper, an intelligent and gentle three-year-old jack russell terrier; Missy, an inquisitive three-year-old achromatic English cocker spaniel; and Shadow - a shy three-legged, four-year-old grey deerhound lurcher who loves walks - are each hoping to beryllium rehomed.

The footstool task follows the occurrence of the King’s Foundation’s luxury kimonos, which were made from aged royal curtains past twelvemonth astatine the proposition of the King, and auctioned to enactment the foundation. Vast swathes of affluent fabrics, which are believed to person dressed the windows successful household and backstage rooms during the precocious Queen’s reign, were lying unused successful retention aft being collected during clear-outs implicit the decades. The worldly spanned much than 40 years of royal curtain design, dating arsenic acold backmost arsenic the 1950s and up to the 1990s, with overmuch of it inspired by quality with floral oregon ample leafage patterns, and a fig of pieces from the 1980s including immoderate denim.

Bespoke patchworks, utilizing delft bluish floral, vintage roseate and teal, and affluent damask burnt orangish cloth near implicit from the kimono project, were made for the stools and combined with Harris Tweed by the King’s Foundation’s Sewing Bee radical astatine Dumfries House successful Ayrshire, Scotland.

The 8 pieces of furniture, with suggested starting prices of £250 per item, volition beryllium auctioned online to enactment The King’s Foundation from November 29 until December 16.