The King and Queen arrived in a flash of lightbulbs for a glittering banquet last night that rounded off the first day of their Kenyan state visit.
Camilla looked elegant in a blue tunic top and palazzo-style trousers by one of her favourite designers, Anna Valentine.
She also wore a diamond elephant bracelet and a necklace that belonged to her grandmother by Van Cleef & Arpels.
The King, who wore a lounge suit as the dress code was not black tie, posed for photographs with his wife and their hosts, Kenya’s president William Ruto and first lady Rachel Ruto.
Standing with the magnificent backdrop of State House behind them, lit up for the occasion, they then walked down a red carpet to the sounds of a Ma traditional dance troupe from Narok, who greeted them with a ceremonial dance of celebration
The couple are set to dine on a lavish eight-course menu:
Beetroot and goat cheese foam with hazelnut crumble
Cream of roasted butternut, chestnut and truffle soup
Malindi lobster and seared seafood ravioli flavoured bisque
Watercress and stilton salad with candied apples and walnuts
Palate cleanser: lemon and raspberry sorbet
Pan-seared salmon with Champagne beurre blanc
Beef Wellington, chateau potatoes and minted asparagus (with chicken Wellington for the high table)
Dessert symphony: A visually stunning dessert platter with miniature portions of Kenyan and British inspired honey cake, carrot and walnut square, earl grey tea crumble and sarova chocolate cake
Petit fours and coffee (including chocolate truffles and macaroons, with Kenyan coffee or tea)
Among the guests were Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and his wife.
It comes as the King told the Kenyan people of his ‘greatest sorrow and deepest regret’ at Britain’s ‘abhorrent and unjustifiable acts of violence’ during the Colonial era.
In a keynote speech that went far further than many expected amid calls for an apology over government abuses under his late mother’s reign, Charles said there was ‘no excuse’ for British ’wrongdoings’ in the east African nation, particularly against the Mau Mau rebellion.
He told the Kenyan president and 350 guests: ‘It is the intimacy of our shared history that has brought our people together. However, we must also acknowledge the most painful times of our long and complex relationship.
‘The wrongdoings of the past are a cause of the greatest sorrow and the deepest regret. There were abhorrent and unjustifiable acts of violence committed against Kenyans as they waged, as you said at the United Nations, a painful struggle for independence and sovereignty – and for that, there can be no excuse.’
Charles added: ‘In coming back to Kenya, it matters greatly to me that I should deepen my own understanding of these wrongs, and that I meet some of those whose lives and communities were so grievously affected.
Read More: Inside Charles and Camilla’s state dinner
