Yikes! Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall tackle the Bash Street Kids Craig Graham, editor of the Beano, said: "They were absolutely delighted. Often we're a little bit nervous because we do, by the nature of things, have to caricature people. But they were both absolutely delighted with their likenesses and hugely impressed to be involved with characters like Dennis the Menace and Roger the Dodger. In the first of the two strips, Dennis the Menace and Gnasher, the Duchess, who is the country's most high-profile campaigner for child literacy, goes to Bash Street School to open a new library. To begin with, Dennis, Roger the Dodger and their friends are typically mischievous and try anything to get out of reading, including using Dennis's dog Gnasher to chomp through their school books. But when the Duchess points out to Roger that he is already an avid reader - of his famous Dodge Books, in which he keeps notes of ways to avoid homework - he sees the error of his ways. The Duchess even enlists Gnasher to gnash through the ribbon as she opens the library. Meanwhile, the Prince takes a starring role in the Bash Street Kids when Olive, the resident dinner lady, writes to Clarence House to ask the Prince to tell the children how good her cooking is. But the Prince, who says he was "partial to fried bread" at Gordonstoun, is less than impressed with her crab-and-marshmallow custard, and shows the children how to grow their own organic vegetables in an allotment, using their pea-shooters to fire seeds into the ground. The Prince of Wales saw the funny side when Dennis the Menace thumbed his nose at him. The strip ends with the obligatory slap-up meal, though on this occasion made of organic vegetables rather than the usual bangers and mash. The royal couple, who are known as the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay, are not the first members of the Royal family to appear in the Beano, as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge made a cameo appearance in another issue. Mr Graham said: "When we learned that they were coming to open the plant, we were obviously thrilled, it was a great opportunity for us. We know that kids do love the royals. I think after last year, with the Jubilee, it's really still at the forefront of their minds and we know that they really enjoy reading about them, seeing them and finding out what they're doing. So we put our minds to thinking up a storyline which might fit with their interests and how they may relate to today's kids. We know of the Duchess's interest in literacy and most people know about the Duke's interests in organic farming, healthy eating and generally living a very healthy lifestyle. We put our minds to it and came up with two storylines related to those. Despite his youthful appearance, Dennis the Menace is only three years younger than the Prince, having made his debut in 1951.