Royal preview for 'Strictly' hopefuls

Having met the British Duchess of Cornwall's seal of approval this week, the 'Strictly Come Dancing' hopefuls will be hoping to impress the public and survive their ninth week on the dance floor tonight.

Camilla got a sneak preview as she watched some of the show's professionals rehearse the group dance they will perform - a fox-trot to Adele's 'Rolling In The Deep', performed by Brendan Cole, Pasha Kovalev, Natalie Lowe and Katya Virshilas.

And she saw competition favourites Harry Judd and Aliona Vilani rehearse a quickstep for tonight's BBC1 programme to 'Don't Get Me Wrong' by The Pretenders.

Anita Dobson and guest partner Cole - standing in for injured Robin Windsor - danced a cha-cha-cha to Uptown Girl by Billy Joel.

The Duchess stepped in as a guest judge during a tour of the BBC studio yesterday, taking a new throne alongside acid-tongued judge Craig Revel Horwood.

She even held up a score paddle to give her verdict on the dancers in rehearsals and crown her own kings and queens of the dancefloor.

Camilla is a fan of the show and has previously danced with Revel Horwood, who is a patron of the National Osteoporosis Society, of which she is president.

The judge personally invited her to today's preview.

There was a further royal date for Bruce Forsyth when he and co-host Tess Daly were introduced to Camilla, just weeks after he attended Buckingham Palace to receive his knighthood.

The Duchess was also taken behind the scenes, visiting the costume department and learning about the preparations which go into designing outfits for the series, and heading into the gallery to see how the footage is mixed.

Last week, astrologer Russell Grant and his partner Flavia Cacace were voted out of the show which was broadcast from Wembley Arena in front of a live audience of 6,000 people.