DURING a three-hour flying visit to Jersey yesterday, the Princess Royal was gifted a giant tortoise sculpture, saw their real life equivalent in Jersey Zoo, and unveiled King’s Arch at Government House.
Princess Anne, who is in her 51st year of patronage of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, was visiting to find out more about the Tortoise Takeover, the sculpture trail currently taking place around the Island.
During her visit, she also met artist Nick Romeril, Jersey Zoo staff and Island officials on her whistle-stop tour.
Her tour also included going to Mont Orgueil Castle, the location of the tortoise sculpture which is being gifted to the Princess Royal. Alongisde the tortoise, there waiting for her was a two-metre-tall fibre-glass model of a hare – the latest addition to Durrell’s Tortoise Takeover.
Durrell chief executive Dr Lesley Dickie said: ‘We’re always excited when our Royal Highness patron comes to visit. The last time she visited was 2021. So it’s great that we have the opportunity to welcome her back again.’
Princess Anne chose Gabriella Street’s tortoise design, named ‘Sanctuary’, in November last year. Ms Street, a Jersey-born artist, explained the thinking behind her tortoise’s design. She said: ‘All the animals and the flora and fauna painted onto the tortoise were specifically inspired by all the outposts that she [Princess Anne] supported around the world.
‘And then the colours that I chose were more of like a personal inspiration from her. She has had a lot of colourful fashion throughout the years.
‘I also love very colourful fashion and incorporating that into my work, so that was kind of the inspiration.’
The hare, which was painted by local artist Nick Romeril, is moving around the Island each week, visiting the various giant tortoise sculptures that have already been placed around the Island, in a nod to Aesop’s fable The Tortoise and the Hare.
Mr Romeril added that the hare design had to be created in secret, in his Jersey studio – for Durrell to introduce it after the start of the Tortoise Takeover.
The giant hare will – alongside the tortoise sculptures – eventually be auctioned off to raise funds for a new reptile and amphibian house at Jersey Zoo.
After greeting the two artists, Princess Anne spke to a few tourists who happened to be outside Gorey Castle.
Among them were Mike and Wendy Franklin, on their first visit to Jersey since their honeymoon 54 years ago, and Adrian, Fiona and Ryan Bennett from Kent.
Mr Bennett said they were walking around the castle when they heard that Princess Anne would be arriving, with the Royal visitor asking them where they were from.
Asked what Princess Anne was like, he said: ‘She seemed very nice. She’s very interested, interested in Jersey and the people on holiday.’
