Seventy-seven years after meeting Queen Elizabeth, the 192-year-old giant tortoise meets her son, Prince Edward.

On the volcanic island of St. Helena, a British overseas territory in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, lives a giant Seychellois tortoise named Jonathan. At 192 years old, the reptile, in addition to being the island’s oldest resident (and the world’s oldest land animal), can boast of having met many members of the British royal family. After King George VI, Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Anne, the Duke of Edinburgh, the younger brother of King Charles III, was presented this Tuesday, January 23.

National mascot

This is the first time that the 59-year-old Prince Edward has set foot in the exile of Napoleon I. On a four-day official visit to mark the opening of the airport, the prince took the opportunity to visit Jonathan, this “close friend” of the royal family, who resides in the gardens of the Plantation House estate, the governor’s residence. the island The human-loving turtle allowed itself to pet the monarch, stretching its head towards him in a moment immortalized in the photo.

A wonderful turtle

When Jonathan was born in 1832, the car, the photograph, or even the stamp did not exist. In 1947, the animal was already 115 years old when it made its first royal meeting with George VI, his wife and a young princess named Elizabeth. The future monarch was only 21 years old at the time and was far from imagining that almost eighty years later his descendants would also be pictured next to the giant tortoise.

In 1957, Elizabeth II returned to the island, this time with the weight of the crown on her head and her husband, Prince Philip. In 2002, it was their daughter, Princess Anna, who met the hundred-year-old animal. Jonathan is now blind and has no sense of smell, said his vet, Joe Hollins. But there is no doubt that she is looking forward to a visit from Kate, William and their three children.