Duchess of Cornwall buys £300 avocado painting on trip to Yorkshire

Camilla was touring Ferens Art Gallery in Hull as part of a royal visit with Prince Charles on Wednesday, when she spotted a pencil drawing of a greyhound in the Open Exhibition, but it was not for sale.

But she then fell for the £300 oil painting Halved Avocado by Ilkley artist Helen Brayshaw.

Ms Brayshaw, who is studying for an MA at Leeds University, said: “I joked on Twitter I wonder if they notice my little painting - and then they did.

“I still can’t believe it - I am so excited.”

The Prince of Wales has homes in Scotland and Wales, as well his official residence at Clarence House in London, while their family home is at Highgrove House, near Tetbury, Gloucestershire, and where the painting will go is not known.

However Ms Brayshaw said other friends who had bought her fruit and vegetable paintings put them in their kitchen or dining room because of the culinary theme.

Among other interests, the Duchess of Cornwall is said to have a “passion” for painting, which eventually led to her private tutoring with an artist.