Prince Charles inspected a Red Arrow as he met the members of the famous display team.

The senior royal squeezed himself into the cockpit of the Hawk T1 jet at the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire yesterday.

He had been due to look at the US-built Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II, which is bound for the new HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier currently at Rosyth in Fife. However, the jets have been grounded after an engine fire in Florida.

Picture: Joe Giddens/PA