Prince Charles goes nuts for Brazil and shows off his samba during official visit

The last time Prince Charles was confronted with a group of shimmering, semi-naked samba dancers in Rio he famously threw himself into the party atmosphere.

But that was in 1978, when the Prince last visited the city's favelas.

This time, more than 30 years on, he showed a little more reserve, even though he could not resist joining the samba band for an impromptu dance.

Display: Prince Charles and Camilla watched traditional Samba dancers perform during a tour of the Marie Complexo Favela in Rio today

Display: Prince Charles and Camilla watched traditional Samba dancers perform during a tour of the Marie Complexo Favela in Rio today

Prince Charles does the samba in 1978 in Rio

One of the performers, Eris Chocolate, 28, said: 'It means an awful lot to the community the Prince coming here and the community want to embrace him in return.'

Charles's dancing exploits were reminiscent of his first visit to Brazil in 1978 when he took to the dance floor with a Samba dancer during a party staged by the city's mayor at the town hall.

During a speech the Prince referred to his night with the carnival dancer and told the audience: 'On that first visit I can remember dancing a somewhat rudimentary version of the samba with a rather dramatically semi-naked lady here in Rio.

'Thirty years later and prior to this visit the lady concerned has been in touch to suggest a slightly more staid re-run of the Samba. Do I accept the challenge?'

The former Samba dancer who gyrated with the Prince is Pina de Beija-Flora who hung up her sparkling head-dresses and minuscule costumes a number of years ago

She is said to be hoping to attend one of the Prince's engagements in Brazil to give him another lesson.

The Prince appears to be admiring the dancers' towering high heels

When the royal couple first arrived at the Complexo da Mare, a collection of favelas in Rio, they were mobbed by dozens of the area's residents who were lining the narrow cobbled streets and standing in front of their makeshift dilapidated homes.

Chief Raoni Mentuktire, leader of the South American country's Kayapo Indians,showed her spectacular lip plate to the Prince at Rio de Janeiro's Botanic Garden yesterday - while appearing to size him up for a plate of his own.

She chatted briefly to the royal and urged him to publicise the battle to save the Amazon.

The campaigner had a traditional wooden disc in his lip and has travelled around the world with popstar Sting promoting their fight to save the eco-systems.

At one point Charles picked up a musical instrument and began shaking it in time to the music before heading inside a sports complex run by the Briton who has spent more than eight years helping youngsters who live in the slum area out of a life of crime.

Mr Dowdney, a former amateur boxer, was a masters student studying anthropology who travelled to Brazil to work on a thesis about violence against street kids.

Don't give me any lip, Charles: The Prince gets a close-up view of Raoni's spectacular lip plate

He later became involved in using sport to help the disadvantaged youngsters and in 2000 set up his Fight for Peace centre in the middle of the favela offering boxing training as a means to reach out to the kids.

Mr Dowdney said: 'It's tragic a ten-year-old from the favelas will choose involvement with the drugs trade instead of going to school.

'The big tragedy is we have hundreds of kids dying from gun violence - it's a very harsh life, there's no second chances but we're trying to find them a second chance.

'We say to them, 'Come in and we can get you a job or get you into school'.

'Charles and Camilla toured the centre and watched boxers sparring in a ring and others working out with punch bags and there were also wrestlers practising their moves.

The royal couple also met one of Mr Dowdney's success stories, Roberto Custodio, 21, a light-welterweight boxer on the Brazilian national team who first came to the project aged 14 and developed into a promising boxer who only yesterday returned from a bout in Italy.

The Prince of Wales shows his skill with a maracas as he joins the samba band

During his address delivered at the Itamaraty Palace the Prince praised Brazil's efforts to safeguard the Amazon.

Last summer the country's President Lula launched a global fund to protect the rainforest and combat climate change with officials hoping to raise 21 US dollars (£11bn) by 2021.

At four million square kilometres the rainforest is the world's largest, covering most of the vast Amazon basin but around 14% of it has already been destroyed.

Charles also talked about his contribution to the problem of deforestation.

The heir to the throne's concern for the vital eco-systems led him to set up an initiative in October 2007 to help stop their destruction.

The Prince's Rainforest Project is working to make the natural resources 'worth more alive than dead' in countries where producers are clearing the land to meet a demand for goods like beef, palm oil, and wood.


Source: Daily Mail Uk.