Accompanied by the unmistakeable aroma of horse manure and with a colourful crowd of spectators at its front entrance, Redfern's NSW Mounted Police Unit welcomed the Prince of Wales and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall to Sydney on Thursday morning.
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After arriving from Canberra where they stayed at Yarralumla for the night, Prince Charles animatedly talked with NSW police commissioner Andrew Scipione throughout displays by the world's oldest continuously operational mounted police unit - it was established in 1825 - and by members of Riding for the Disabled Australia.
Sitting next to the deputy premier and police minister Troy Grant, Camilla watched on as a mock arrest of an unruly offender was staged. Dodging piles of horse muck, the couple entered the mud-floored arena after the show and spoke with police officers including Sergeant Karen Owen, who led the display.
The unit is no stranger to royal scrutiny - 19 of its 36 riders visited Windsor Castle in 2012 where they put on a display for the Queen's Jubilee Pageant, riding horses belonging to the Household Cavalry.
Her Royal Highness was presented with a posy of flowers by an officer's daughter before she and her husband viewed the Mounted Police Museum and signed the visitors' book.
Commissioner Scipione described himself as a "very pleased commissioner" after the special visit on the third day of the six-day tour. This is Charles' 15th visit to Australia and their second as a couple.
Perhaps most special of the Prince of Wales' conversations with well-wishers on Thursday was in Martin Place, where he met Daphne Dunne.
The wheelchair-bound 95-year-old wore her first husband's Victoria Cross for the occasion.
"I met him [Charles] 30-odd years ago in Canberra. He said he remembered - and I said, 'so long ago?' He said yes," Ms Dunne, from Turramurra, told Fairfax Media after the meeting.
Her husband of 12 months was killed while fighting Japanese soldiers in Lae in Papua New Guinea during World War II.
Ms Dunne joined the Australian Army for the war and wore a host of her own medals alongside her husband's. He died aged 24 and was among the many thousands remembered at memorial services on Armistice Day on Wednesday.
She went on to remarry and was accompanied to Martin Place by her daughter, Michelle. Premier Mike Baird and his wife Kerryn met flag-waving monarchists alongside Their Royal Highnesses.
"She's lovely too," Ms Dunne said of Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall. "She said 'I see you've got the VC there. I said 'how are you?' She said 'I'm very tired.'"
Ms Dunne's reply drew smiles from the dignitaries: "I should most probably lend you my wheelchair."