Charles, winged and saving the world

The head bore a passing resemblance to the Prince of Wales, since Mauricio Bentes, the sculptor, was basing it on images from the internet. But then there were the wings. They sprouted from the bronze figurine making it look like a Gothic batman and almost completely encapsulating the statuette.

"This represents Prince Charles saving the world," said Jose Siqueira Campos, the governor of the Amazonian state of Tocantins. He looked thrilled. Charles, next to him, looked a little bemused.

Mr Siqueira Campos then asked royal permission to build a life-size version of the winged prince and install it in Palmas, the state capital, in a square to be named after his illustrious guest.

"I am very touched," smiled the prince, who was wearing a safari shirt and Indian bead necklaces, as he looked around for help from his advisers. "And amazed."

The prince's head of protocol gracefully accepted the statuette and then, holding it like a plate of strange local soup, walked across the wooden passageway to the royal speedboat.

Palmas is probably looking for some street names. Some 14 years ago it was barely a dot on the map. Its population is now 150,000 and it is Brazil's fastest growing town, attracting those drawn to the genenerations-old dream of finding fortune at the Amazon frontier. But with development comes the threat of environ mental destruction, and the issue of protection was the reason for the prince's trip yesterday.

He visited an ecological centre on the Ilha do Bananal, the world's largest fluvial island, to be explained research on climate change and to inaugurate a turtle sanctuary that is funded by a £50,000 donation from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

By that time the prince had made Brazil, the world's fifth largest country, appear the size of a European principality since he had danced samba on the outskirts of Rio in the morning 1,000 miles away.

The itinerary was a type of Cannonball Run in which the royal entourage visited both the most densely populated part of South America and one of its remotest areas within the space of only a few hours. The day started with a 10-mile car ride from Rio's Copacabana, where the prince overnighted, to Sao Joao de Meriti, a municipality in the conurbation of sprawling Greater Rio - a journey from the First World to the Third.

Awaiting the royal cortege at a cultural centre run by the charity ActionAid, of which Charles is a patron, was a welcoming committee of three samba dancers.

After leaving Sao Joao do Meriti in the morning, the royal plane flew 1,000 miles north to Palmas, the capital of the state of Tocantins. Charles transferred to a helicopter and then to a base near Bananal Island.

He is due to arrive in Mexico this morning, where he will stay for three days.

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