King Charles encountered a relative of his late mother’s beloved pony, Emma, when he visited Lancashire on Monday.
He toured Clitheroe Auction Mart on a non-market day, engaging with local farmers showcasing their rare breed sheep and cattle.
The market is a cornerstone of the Ribble Valley and Forest of Bowland.
It boasts a livestock trading history dating back to 1499, with its current site established in 1897.
Charles unveiled a plaque in the auction ring to mark the visit.
In the auction ring he met Fell pony Pearl, who is related on her sire’s side to Emma, the black Fell pony who made an appearance at the late monarch’s funeral.
Emma watched the funeral procession go by, with the Queen’s sheepskin saddle cover and the silk headscarf she wore when riding laid over her saddle.
Pearl was bred by Rossendale farmers Andrew and Michelle Thorpe.
They gave her as a wedding present to their nephew Ben, 39, when he married wife Eleanor, 32.
Ben Thorpe said: “She is part of the family, like having a dog.”
Later, Charles visited Samlesbury Hall, near Preston, becoming the first monarch to visit the 701-year-old medieval manor house.
On arrival outside he was met by two shire horses pulling a dray for Daniel Thwaites, a local family-run brewer, first established in 1807.
The King spent a moment chatting to horsewoman Beverley Holland, along with colleagues Jonathan Jones and Richard Green, with the horses, Thunder, aged seven and Regal, nine, sporting polished brass harnesses.
Inside Samlesbury Hall, he met the hall’s archivist, trustees and volunteers, responsible for preserving the Grade-I listed building, founded in around 1325 by Gilbert de Southworth.
Saved from demolition in 1925, the hall is now open to the public for education, events and cultural activities.
The medieval manor, parts of whose original timber frame survive in the Great Hall, has a chapel and extensions from the Tudor period and also has priest holes, reflecting the catholic faith of the Southworth family who owned the hall over 300 years.
Jason Karl, a trustee and volunteer, showed the King several artefacts, including a large piece of oak timber dating back to 1325 that formed part of the hall’s original structure.
Mr Karl said: “I think he was most interested in the Roman Catholic history of the house and the Southworth family.”
During the visit the King also spoke to Ishwer Tailor and his wife Urhila Tailor, from the Gujarat Hindu Society, based in Preston, which the King, then Prince Charles, visited in 1981.
For his final visit of the day, the King sampled some cheese at a family business which had rebuilt after a devastating fire.
The King met Gill Hall, the third-generation owner of Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses, on a visit to Lancaster in 2025, when she told him about the November 2023 fire which had destroyed 95 per cent of their stock.
On Monday he officially opened the firm’s new cheese campus in Inglewhite, near Preston.
Mrs Hall, 65, said: “He understood the pain that we’ve been through and the resilience that it’s taken to get to this stage and, as I said to him at the end, he’s given us a boost.”
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