Prince Charles and Duchess of Cornwall at Hay Festival

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The royal couple greet well-wishers in the streets of Hay
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The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall visited the opening day of the Hay Festival at Hay-on-Wye, Powys. They arrived late as they had to travel by road after the royal helicopter developed a fault just after take-off forcing an emergency landing.

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Shrugging off both the rain on their arrival and the earlier helicopter emergency, the Duchess of Cornwell greeted well-wishers in the town.

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Prince Charles braved the weather to sample some of the second-hand book shops that pepper the streets of the town. The Hay Festival attracts an annual gathering of authors, politicians and celebrities.

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But hundreds of local school children were also at the festival to see the royal couple, who were shown around by Shan Legge-Bourke (right), the Lord Lieutenant of Powys and mother of Tiggy, who was nanny to Princes William and Harry.

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As well as meeting local school children, the prince and the duchess met people involved with causes close to their hearts.

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The Hay Festival has been a fixture in the literary calendar for 26 years. As part of her visit, the duchess played a large game of outdoor chess with Year Five and Six pupils from Hay-on-Wye school.