Queen Camilla hosts Christmas party and serves up bangers and mash for sick children at Clarence House
Camilla marked "the start of Christmas" while she served up a lunch of bangers and mash to the children
The Queen joined in the festive spirit by hosting a party for poorly children complete with Santa Claus, reindeer and a Christmas sleigh at Clarence House.
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Camilla joined youngsters suffering from life-threatening conditions in Queen Victoria’s former sled after she hosted her traditional Christmas lunch for the group at her London home.
Every year, she invites the children supported by the organisations Helen & Douglas House and Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity, and they decorate a tree with the help of her equerry and receive presents from Santa.
After lunch was served to the children, she said to them: "I say this every year, to me it’s the start of Christmas, I haven't really got my head round it until I come here and I realise it's about to happen.
"It's so lovely to have you all every year and I'm so proud to be patron of two such wonderful charities.
"I know they do so much for the children and of course the parents – they're literally lifesavers – I’m thrilled to see you all again and I wish you all a very, very happy Christmas."
Samuel Soremekun, aged six, who has sickle cell disease and autism, was so excited to meet royalty he kept saying: "It's the Queen, It's the Queen”, as Camilla held his hand.
He made everyone laugh when he pointed to a member of her entourage and asked: "Is that the King?"
Camilla met all the children with their parents after they had received teddy bears from Father Christmas.
She also chatted to ten-year-old Myra Murphy, who has the rare and severe genetic disorder Mirage syndrome and told her as one of the oldest children there, she should be "head girl."
One of the highlights of the event was the decorating of the Christmas tree with the Queen's outgoing equerry Major Ollie Plunket joined by his successor Major Rob Treasure, who both used their swords to delicately place ornaments, picked out by the children, on the tree’s topmost branches.
After a lunch of bangers and mash served by the Queen, the children were treated to the sight of reindeer Blitzen and Dancer being fed moss by their handlers.
The Queen invited her young guests to join her in the sled, designed by Prince Albert in 1842 as a gift for his wife and restored six years ago, and Samuel and Myra were among the first to sit beside her on the plush red velvet seat, with Santa behind them.
Samuel’s mother Toyosi Valogun, said: "He was so excited to meet the Queen, he would not sleep. He's so curious of everything and is not scared of anything – he’s so cheeky."