Chip, chip hooray for grandparents

And the Duchess of Cornwall described the arrival of the Prince of Cambridge as “a wonderfully uplifting moment for the country”.

Charles and Camilla were met by cheering crowds of well-wishers on a visit to East Yorkshire yesterday, quashing fears they may have cancelled their engagements to visit the baby.

Villager after villager offered the couple their congratulations as the Royal couple walked around the green in Bugthorpe.

Charles said: “I’m thrilled and very excited.”

The Duchess said Charles would make a “brilliant” grandfather.

“I think it’s wonderful news. I think mother, son and father are all well,” she said.

“And I think it’s a wonderfully uplifting moment for the country.

“It’s very exciting and it’s wonderful for the grandfather – he’s brilliant with children.”

The village was decked out with Union flags and bunting for the visit.

One member of the crowd, resident Robert Barrett, was one of the first to greet the Prince, saying “Morning Grandad”, which raised a chuckle from Charles.

“He obviously likes being a grandad,” Mr Barrett added.

And a little boy asked the Prince: “When’s the little baby coming?” to which Charles replied: “We haven’t been able to bring him yet.”

Many people asked whether the new baby had a name, but Charles gave little away.

Alec Dale told Charles: “We popped a bottle of bubbly last night at our house. I hope you did too.”

The Prince replied: “Yes. But just a little bit.”

Charles also visited a country pub but did not wet the baby’s head during his series of engagements.

But he may do so later as he was given a selection of real ales to take away from a micro-brewery close to the village of Burton Fleming.

Kate Balchin, 26, account manager at Wold Top Brewery which is run by her parents, Tom and Gill Mellor, said: “He said he was looking forward to trying some.

“It’s a coincidence that the visit happened today, but the beers can wet the baby’s head.”

The Prince was in the village to meet people who were affected by severe floods at Christmas, and spoke to them in the Burton Arms pub.

A crowd of hundreds brought the village of only 400 people to a standstill when Charles arrived, cheering and shouting their congratulations to him.

One group of pensioners serenaded him with the song: “Grandad, we love you, Grandad, we do.”

Before the meeting in the pub, Charles met 11-week-old Hugo Tate and pronounced him “lovely”.

Proud mother Heather Bradley, a 29-year-old estate agent from Wansford, said: “Prince Charles said he was lovely and it was lovely to meet him.”

Other gifts for the Prince included eggs and a tomato 
plant.

Charles even hugged overjoyed well-wishers as he mixed with crowds at Bridlington Harbour.

Geraldine Kynaston asked the Prince if she could give him a cuddle to congratulate him on becoming a grandparent.

“I said ‘Can I give the grandad a hug?’,” said the Bridlington resident.

“He said ‘Excuse me?!’ So I said ‘Can I give the new grandad a hug?’. And he said ‘Of course’.

“It was just very light-hearted –the whole country’s jubilant.”

There were spontaneous rounds of applause and cries of “Congratulations, Grandad” as Charles was shown around the harbour, where he met members of marine conservation, fishing and other nautical organisations.

As the impending rain held off, the Prince took an unscheduled walk past crowds on Bridlington seafront.

Charles and Camilla rounded off their day in Yorkshire with a walkabout among thousands of well-wishers in the seaside town of Withernsea.

Everywhere they went in the town they were greeted with shouts of “congratulations” and some people gave them presents.

Charles even had a kiss for pensioner Irene Vyner, who wished the new Royal baby well from her wheelchair.