The Duchess of Cornwall has turned to ballet as part of a keep fit regime, joining lessons with three “ancient friends” that leave them groaning, huffing and grunting, she has said.

Camilla, 72, has become a cheerleader for Silver Swans ballet tutorials aimed at the over-55s, designed to improve core strength balance and flexibility.

She revealed she had been taking lessons for up 18 months and finds it fun in a video chat with Silver Swans ambassador Angela Rippon, of legendary Morecambe & Wise dancing fame, and Dame Darcey Bussell, president of the Royal Academy of Dance.

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The duchess was encouraged to take classes after visiting a Silver Swans class in New Zealand last year. She “got a group of ancient friends together and the four of us clatter around and when we are in London, we do it once a week. It makes all the difference.

“At first I thought it was going to be very funny and I was going to laugh at everybody toppling over next door to me. But we concentrate so hard that we don’t even know what our friend next door is doing. I think to myself drop your shoulders, breathe deeply, don’t hunch,” she added in the video chat, to mark International Dance Day.

“You might groan a bit afterwards, huff, grunt and everything else. But you do feel so much better. It’s fun.”

She was “very much a beginner,” she said. “But I do feel after a year, 18 months of doing it, that maybe I have improved a tiny bit. But I certainly am not going to be taking to the stage.”

The Silver Swans programme is run by the Royal Academy of Dance, of which Camilla has just become vice-patron. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the academy has launched a free online series of Silver Swan lessons.

Meanwhile, her husband Prince Charles is due to make his debut, alongside the Queen, as a character in a special episode of the animated show to mark the 75th anniversary of Thomas the Tank Engine, created by British clergyman the Rev Wilbert Awdry.

Prince Harry has spoken of his “fond memories” of growing up watching Thomas and Friends in a filmed introduction to the special episode, entitled The Royal Engine.

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It will see Thomas travel to London on a mission to take Fat Controller, Sir Topham Hatt, to Buckingham Palace to receive an honour. The Queen and a young Prince of Wales feature among the characters, with the apparent blessing of Her Majesty.

The Duke of Sussex, who took a Thomas the Tank Engine bag on his first day at nursery school, filmed his introduction in London in January in return for a donation to charity. Sitting in an armchair, with a copy of the book, he said: “I certainly have fond memories of growing up with Thomas and Friends and being transported to new places through his adventures.” The special episode will be on Milkshake! On Channel 5 at 9.05am on 2 May and will stream on Netflix in the US on 1 May.