The Duchess of Cornwall offered her support for Britain’s armed forces as she arrived for the start of a Help for Heroes Paris to London charity bike ride.
Camilla posed for photographs with the 300 fundraisers as they left the French capital on Tuesday morning, on the second and final day of her first solo overseas engagement as a member of the Royal Family.
The group included wounded British, US and Canadian service personnel and war veterans who are cycling more than 350 miles through the battlefields of both world wars as part of the annual Help for Heroes Big Battlefield Bike Ride. The inaugural event was held in 2008.
She wished the cyclists good luck as they set off from Les Invalides, a military hospital built by Louis XIV in the 1670s for wounded French troops, and which is where Napoleon is buried.
Her show of support came as the charity announced it was refunding donations raised by EDL leader Tommy Robinson, who started fundraising after the brutal death of soldier Lee Rigby last week.
The duchess joined them for a group photo and laughed as they shouted three cheers, punching the air.
The riders will arrive in London on June 2 when they will join 1,300 other riders taking part in the 2013 Hero Ride. They will lay a wreath at the Cenotaph and then cycle down the Mall, finishing at Horse Guards Parade.