Queen Camilla beams in new picture released to mark her 78th birthday tomorrow

Queen Camillais all smiles in a new picture released to mark her 78th birthday tomorrow. Leaning against a gate in the garden of her private Wiltshire home, Her Majesty beams as she looks head-on at the camera.

She is wearing a striking tropical rainforest print dress by Fiona Clare, which features wildlife motifs and a bold leafy pattern that makes her blue eyes pop. While the framing of the picture with her hands clasped together means her art deco engagement ring takes centre stage.

The official portrait was taken earlier this month at Raymill, her private residence in Lacock, Wiltshire.

Royal photographer Chris Jackson captured the image, having been behind the camera of the picture of the Queen with her rescue dog, Moley, released earlier in the week.

She is expected to mark the milestone privately with her family.

Camilla bought Raymill, a six-bedroom house, after her divorce from Andrew Parker Bowles in the mid-1990s.

The picture was released, after the Queen was handed a rather unusual gift of an engraved clingfilm holder from the Captain and submariners of nuclear-powered submarine HMS Astute.

During a solo away day in Devon, Camilla, who is the Lady Sponsor of the submarine, attended a ceremony to mark the end of the vessel's first commission.

The slightly unusual birthday present was part of an inside joke, as the Queen had been amused by the crew's initiative of using the transparent plastic film to repair the engines during its voyage.

Upon seeing the gift, which features a gold plaque stating 'Clingfilm, keeping Nuclear Submarines at Sea' the Queen exclaimed: "Oh my goodness, the famous clingfilm!"

She continued: "Oh brilliant, it's a useful substance...I'm sure it works. How lovely, thank you very much."

Commander Christopher Bate, Captain of HMS Astute, explained after her departure that the substance had saved the day for the submarine.

"We had a defect onboard and we were losing vacuum in the main engines," he said. "The engineers onboard said we could either come back to port to fix it or use something onboard. So they used clingfilm from the galley."

He explained that they wrapped the engines with it to stop air from getting in and reduce the vacuum.

The clingfilm has remained in place for the past two and a half years because it's "such a big job to change the seals".

The crew of submariners later had the idea of making a personalised clingfilm dispenser for Her Majesty, who met with them and their families at a garden party the day before her birthday.