Royals attend King Tut exhibition

The last exhibition in 1972 attracted 1.7m visitors

The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall have attended the ceremonial opening of the new Tutankhamun exhibition in London this afternoon.

Tutankhamun and The Golden Age of The Pharaohs shows a new display of 3,000-year-old artefacts excavated from King Tut's tomb.

More than 130 items are on display, in the first exhibition of its kind to be held in the UK for 35 years.

The exhibition opens to the public on 15 November at The O2 in London.

Among the treasures are the royal crown that was found on the mummified head of Tutankhamun and one of the gold and precious stone coffinettes that contained his embalmed internal organs.

Mummy on display

The Royal couple were given a tour of the exhibition and witnessed the installation of the final artefacts, ahead of the public opening later this week.

The last time such an exhibition was displayed in London, in 1972, it attracted more than 1.7 million visitors, and was the most successful exhibition in the capital's history setting a new record for travelling shows.

Earlier this month, Tutankhamun's mummy was put on public display for the first time inside his tomb complex in Luxor's Valley of the Kings.

Tutankhamun and The Golden Age of The Pharaohs runs at the O2 - the former Millennium Dome - until 30 August 2008.