Royal Ballet: How Duchess Camilla stays fit during lockdown
The Duchess of Cornwall has taken up ballet with a group of “ancient friends” as a way to stay fit.
During a conversation with Dame Darcey Bussell and Angela Rippon, Duchess Camilla revealed she had been taking ballet lessons for 18 months through Silver Swans tutorials aimed at the over-55s.
The 72-year-old duchess said she decided to try the discipline after visiting a Silver Swans class in New Zealand in 2018.
“At first I thought it was going to be very funny and I was going to laugh at everybody toppling over next door to me,” she said.
“But we concentrate so hard that we don’t even know what our friend next door is doing.
“You might groan a bit afterwards, huff, grunt and everything else. But you do feel so much better. It’s fun.”
Since then, she has been attending classes with three “ancient friends”, she said. “The four of us clatter around and when we are in London, we do it once a week. It makes all the difference.”
Camilla said while she might have “improved a tiny bit” after 18 months of training, she would not be “taking to the stage”.
The duchess, who was recently appointed as the Vice-Patron of the Royal Academy of Dance, encouraged those aged over 55 to have a go at ballet during the coronavirus lockdown through the Silver Swans online classes.
With the news that The Duchess of Cornwall is to become Vice Patron of the Royal Academy of Dance, Her Royal Highness undertook a video call with @DarceyOfficial and Angela Rippon to discuss the Silver Swans programme. 🩰#InternationalDanceDay@RADheadquarters pic.twitter.com/urjDxgg9BZ
— Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) April 29, 2020
In the video call with Bussell and Rippon, the duchess also shared an update on her husband Prince Charles, who recently recovered from coronavirus.
“My husband is a workaholic, so he will work wherever he is. He’s sitting at his desk now working away,” she said.
“We try and do something for all our charities most days to try and give them a bit of encouragement and just try to lend our support.”