Poundbury: King and Queen unveil portraits on landmark visit

King Charles III and Queen Camilla met children from Damers First School

King Charles III and Queen Camilla have marked the completion of part of the King's Poundbury development in Dorset.

The royal couple paid their first visit to the community near Dorchester since the Coronation.

They unveiled bronze portraits of themselves on a plinth which completes the development's central Queen Mother Square.

The King also unveiled a bust of his father, the late Duke of Edinburgh, in a newly-created garden.

Poundbury is one of the King's pet projects

The King and Queen were introduced to a group of people in bathrobes who had been enjoying a session in a spa.

Speaking afterwards, spa client Faye Harris, 34, from Northamptonshire, said: "It was very surreal and I did not expect to meet them this morning.

"The manager came up and said they were likely to be here around midday and would we like to pop our heads out of the window, not shake his hand in our bathrobes.

"It was fantastic to meet them, very nice people."

The royal couple also heard children from Damers First School perform their coronation song Sing For The King.

The bust in The Duke of Edinburgh Garden is a new edition of a work originally created by sculptor Frances Segelman in 2000.

The bronze reliefs, by sculptor Ian Rank-Broadley, sit on a plinth that names those who helped to create the square.

The royal couple unveiled bronze reliefs of themselves in Queen Mother Square

Construction at Poundbury, on the edge of Dorchester, began in 1993 on architectural principles championed by the future King.

By the time of its completion in 2028, the Duchy of Cornwall community is expected to have grown to 2,740 homes from about 2,300 at present, Buckingham Palace said.