Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Qatar family make ‘generous donation’ to Queen Mother’s Highland home

Castle of Mey
Castle of Mey

The late Queen Mother’s Highland retreat has been aided by another royal family the Middle East.

A “generous” donation from Qatar has been received to help with the upkeep of the Castle of Mey in Caithness.

Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah al-Thani, the cousin of the emir of Qatar has been made a vice-president of the Friends of the Castle of Mey because of the donation.

Castle of Mey was bought by the Queen Mother in 1952 after the death of her husband King George VI and was the only personal home she owned until her death in 2002.

It is now used by as a tourist attraction and is rented out to wealthy paying guests who want to live like royalty.

Prince Charles also makes an annual pilgrimage to his grandmother’s former home every summer to the Mey Highland Games which are held in the grounds of the castle.

The Qatari royal family’s involvement was first discovered after the sheikh was first spotted at a drinks reception in London for supporters of the castle.

The party, an annual fundraiser at the Goring Hotel in the capital – which was also much loved by the Queen Mother – and was also attended by the Queen, who is understood to have taken the chance to pay personal thanks to the sheikh for his generosity.

The sheikh is reported to have said that his family get along well with both Prince Charles the Duke of Rothesay and Prince Phillip the Duke of Edinburgh.

The Duke of Rothesay is a regular visitor to the Gulf state, having paid three visits in the last three years.

The Castle of Mey was built by the Earl of Caithness for in the 16th entry.

The name of the building was changed to Barrogil Castle in the 18th century after the earldom changed hands, before the Queen Mother reverted to the original name when she purchased it in 1952.