Charles and Camilla come face to face with supersized crustacean as they meet the locals on their annual trip to Cornwall
- Charles and Camilla were visiting the pretty fishing village of Looe
- The prince was touring the fish market when he was shown the lobster
- Visited in support of The Fishermen's Mission and Fishing for the Future
- Also running a Prince's Trust scheme to get young people into fishing
- Camilla spent the morning touring a market and met a pair of cute corgis
- The royal couple also met lifeboat crews at the local RNLI station
He might be a keen diver in his own right but even usually relaxed Prince Charles looked nervous when confronted with a giant lobster during a visit to Cornwall today.
As one of the local fisherman swung round, his catch in his hands, the prince gamely stepped up to inspect the crustacean, which had been pulled out of a lobster pot just ahead of the royal visit.
The prince met the men in his role as a supporter of The Fishermen's Mission and of Fishing for the Future; an initiative aimed at encouraging young people to choose fishing as a career.
Touring the fish market in the pretty town of Looe, Prince Charles also met some of the alumni from the Get into Fishing scheme run by the Prince's Trust, one of whom had a sizeable seabass to show the royal visitor.
Like other Prince's Trust initiatives, Get Into Fishing focuses on giving local unemployed young people the skills, qualifications and training they needed to get into the fishing industry.
Among recent graduates is the crack lobster catcher, who along with a friend runs a stall on Looe’s fish market, while another alumnus works on a trawler out of Plymouth harbour.
Later, Prince Charles was joined by the Duchess of Cornwall who had spent the morning touring the shops in Looe, among them a fishmonger and a grocer specialising in local produce.
Like her husband, Camilla found herself on the receiving end of some animal attention, although in her case, it came in the shape of a pair of cuddly corgis.
Much to their owner's delight, the animal-loving Duchess bent down to give the excited dogs a pat before rejoining her husband for a visit to the local RNLI station.
There, the royal couple were shown around the purpose-built facility, which opened in 2003 and houses two lifeboats, before being whisked off to tour the local market.
Clotted cream fudge, Cornish pasties and a sliver of local cheddar were all on the menu as Charles and Camilla made their way past stallholders, all eager to give the royal visitors a taste of Cornwall.
Camilla, who was elegant in a butterfly print cream dress and matching jacket, even found time to tuck into another Cornish classic - a scone topped with clotted cream and jam.
But whether or not the enormous lobster will also be making an appearance on the royal supper table remains to be seen.
