Next week, the Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Charles will undertake a gruelling three-week Diamond Jubilee tour of Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand. So the royal has flown to India for some pampering before her work schedule takes off. Camilla checked into the £3,500-a-night Soukya International Holistic Health Centre in Bangalore on Saturday. During her week-long stay, the future Queen Consort will be energised by dawn yoga sessions and therapeutic ayurvedic massages – a treatment based on an ancient Indian healing system.
The plush centre will cocoon the Duchess in luxurious surroundings where she can explore her spirituality and disconnect from her high profile life. Their estate – sprawling over a 30-acre organic farm – boasts a fruit garden, an open air shower and its own lotus pond. Soukya describe their haven as a "unique facility that helps restore the natural balance of your mind, body and spirit." Prince Charles isn't thought to have joined his wife on the private holiday - she instead travelled with family members and her security detail. However, the Prince is familiar with the exotic paradise, having stayed there with his Duchess when they visited India in 2010 to attend the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony. On that occasion, Camilla's flexibility impressed, with an employee saying: "She could do the difficult Asanas (poses) with ease. It seems she has done yoga before," Clarence House has confirmed the royal's short escape, telling the Daily Mail: "The Duchess of Cornwall is on a private holiday.
"She will fly on to meet up with the Prince of Wales for the start of their Diamond Jubilee tour to Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand next weekend." Excitement has already started to build ahead of that trip, with famous faces and dignitaries from the three nations recently joining the royal couple at a reception in St James's Palace. Australian national treasure Kylie Minogue sang for the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall to mark their impending visit to her home country.Keen for her homeland to impress, the ex-Neighbours star said she hoped couple received "a beautiful warm welcome and enjoy the hospitality Australia offers," before saying “Boy voyage” to Charles and Camilla and wishing them a "fantastic trip".