William jokes with customer while taking Cornish pasty order on St Piran’s Day

The Prince of Wales joked with a customer while he took an order over the phone for Cornish pasties as he visited a bakery on St Piran’s Day.

The prince was at the Gear Farm Pasty Company in Helston learning about making the much-loved local delicacy when he took the call from Josie Trounson.

Ms Trounson had telephoned to order 10 frozen pasties and five fresh pasties, which she would collect later.

She was unaware she was speaking to the heir to the throne as she placed her order – much to the amusement of onlookers listening to the conversation inside the bakery.

William told her: “Do you want me to take an order from you? 10 frozen pasties, and we have got plenty of cooked ones, just made some fresh ones now.

“What name is that? Juicy? Josie! Sorry Josie, I thought you said Juicy.

“The pasties will be juicy. 15 pasties for Josie for 1.45pm.

“Five fresh good ones and 10 frozen. Bye bye Josie.”

Ms Trounson, who lives a 20-minute drive from the farm, did not find out it was William who had taken her order until she arrived to collect her pasties – half an hour after he had left to meet fire-and-rescue staff at Helston community fire station.

“I was flabbergasted when I found out,” Ms Trounson said after collecting her order.

“I had no idea who was answering my call but the person on the line was a bit incoherent.

“It’s St Piran’s Day and I was really worried I wasn’t going to get my pasties.”

The Gear Farm Pasty Company in Helston is run by Dave and Ann Webb and their children Jemma and Michael.

The prince, who is the Duke of Cornwall, was visiting to celebrate St Piran’s Day and show his support for communities across Cornwall in the wake of the devastating Storm Goretti.

The storm, which struck in January, brought winds of nearly 100mph to the county and caused widespread damage.

Around 50,000 homes were without power and major highways and rural routes were blocked by thousands of fallen trees.

One man died when a tree came down onto his caravan in the Mawgan area of Helston during the worst storm to hit Cornwall in decades.

Emergency services and local volunteers worked around the clock to clear debris, restore essential services and protect isolated or vulnerable residents.

William was taken on a tour of the farm and helped make pasties while stopping off inside the bakery.

As the Prince spooned potato into the pasties in the bakery, he joked: “Don’t worry, I can take full criticism.”

He was then shown how to crimp a pasty by Miss Webb, who runs the bakery.

As he folded over the pastry, he said: “Oh my goodness there’s a lot more going into this than I thought.

“I feel I may be taking this one home guys. Everyone loves a trier.”

The prince went on: “I appreciate the comments, but this is not my finest hour.

“This is where I need my wife, she would be all over this.”

Admiring the finished pasty, the prince joked: “It looks like a slightly ill crab.

“It’s alright, passable. Yours look so perfect.

“It’s really not easy is it? This is something machinery can’t help with. It all has to be hand-made.”

During the storm, the farm experienced prolonged power and water outages, and was cut off by fallen trees on narrow rural roads.

Due to a recently-installed generator, the Webb family were able to continue baking and supporting local residents who were without essential services for several days.

William also met local people who helped to clear roads, check on neighbours and maintain vital access for those needing daily care.

To mark the occasion, the Prince also planted an oak tree in a new woodland area being established on the farm.

His second engagement took him to the nearby fire station, where he handed over a box of 50 freshly-baked pasties he had brought from Gear Farm to thank the emergency services for their work during Storm Goretti.

During the catastrophe, the Webb family wanted to share pasties with the local fire station, but due to fallen trees blocking the roads they could not make the delivery.

Two months later, the prince helped them make good on their promise with his very own royal mail delivery.

During a tour of the fire station with Cornwall chief fire officer Kathryn Billing, the theme of pasties continued as Ms Billing told the prince she used to make them and had “crimped in excess of 10,000”.

William replied: “It’s a lot harder, it looks like it is really quite easy. The ladies were very fast and laughing away, and didn’t even look like they were looking.”

At the station, William met with fire service personnel, Cornwall Council highways staff and National Grid workers who had all helped with the Storm Goretti clear-up.