Hundreds of people have lined a Newquay street to welcome the Queen as she visited a local church and officially opened the new operations unit of Cornwall Air Ambulance
Queen Camilla toured Wave House Church to see the work of the Cornwall Community Foundation, which had provided more than £117,000 in grants over 20 years to support local projects and strengthen the Newquay community.
At the church, Her Majesty met volunteers and people who had been helped by the organisation, including residents supported by the Turnaround Project, which provides housing and mentoring to help vulnerable young people into work.
She also met other local groups supported by the foundation, such as Newquay Foodbank and the Clothes Horse, which provides clothing for families in need.
Her Majesty later officially opened the new operations unit of Cornwall Air Ambulance Trust’s headquarters and formally named the charity’s new helicopter. The Queen has served as Patron of the Cornwall Air Ambulance since 2009.
In the helicopter hangar, the Queen was welcomed with a performance of Sing it Home, the Heli2 Appeal shanty song written and produced by Cornwall Air Ambulance, which reached number 11 in the Official UK charts. The song was performed by Treverbyn Academy.
Following the performance, Her Majesty met aircrew, clinicians and volunteers, as well as former patients treated by the Air Ambulance. She formally named the new helicopter, which was purchased following donations from the local community and supporters, and unveiled a plaque to officially open the Newman Wing.
Queen Camilla unveiled the name of the new aircraft, The Duke of Cornwall, by removing a Cornish flag from the nosecone of the second AW169. The name compliments the existing aircraft, The Duchess of Cornwall, which was named after her title when she first became the charity’s Patron. The helicopter was then officially blessed by the Bishop of St Germans, The Right Reverend Hugh Nelson.
On unveiling the aircraft name, Her Majesty The Queen addressed the room saying:
“As Cornwall Air Ambulance’s very proud Patron I would like to thank everyone, the pilots, doctors and paramedics, volunteers and all the people who are kind enough to give money to it. It is vital to this part of the country, which is huge, so obviously having two helicopters is going to help a lot, they have saved so many people’s lives, and I have heard so many stories of people who wouldn’t be here without it. Thank you very much indeed and I look forward to coming back again at some point, who knows, maybe there will be a third one.”
The naming ceremony follows the success of the Heli2 Appeal, which raised £2.85 million towards the second AW169 helicopter. The new aircraft arrived in July and officially went into operation on 5th August 2025.
Tim Bunting, Chief Executive of Cornwall Air Ambulance, said:
“It was an honour to welcome Her Majesty to the airbase to see and name our second AW169 helicopter. This has been a momentous year for the charity, as for the first time we now own and have two state-of-the-art helicopters at our disposal. This has only been possible thanks to the overwhelming generosity of the people of Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly, and beyond, who donated to the Heli2 Appeal. It was wonderful that Her Majesty has been able to see all the hard work that has gone into bringing this second aircraft to Cornwall and to hear about the difference it is already making to the resilience of our service. This second aircraft will help us save many more lives for years to come.”
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