BOSSES at a wildlife park in West Somerset have claimed a link to the Queen - even if it is somewhat tenuous.

Tropiquaria, at Washford, reckons it's white Bennett's wallabies are probably descendants of a pair gifted to the monarch during her tour of Australia in 1963.

The albino animals, which were presented to her by Taronga Zoo, in Sydney, were given to Regents Park Zoo and later Whipsnade.

They are believed to have been the first white wallabies to live in the UK.

A Tropiquaria spokesperson said: "In the intervening years, the number of white wallabies in the UK has increased considerably, and so it seems that the original pair have 30 or so generations on spread their genes far and wide in the zoo population and more recently to some in private ownership, and indeed the odd feral animal too.

"We would like to think that ours are descendants of the two that came here from Taronga in 1963."