The Duke of Rothesay enjoyed a splash of colour at Inverurie Farmers Market on an otherwise very dreich day.
Spits of rain turned into a downpour as Prince Charles was welcomed to to the town by a sea of umbrellas, with both both young and old determined to catch a glimpse of royalty.
Fresh from a tour of Glen Garioch Distillery in Oldmeldrum, the duke was greeted in Inverurie by a party of school children draped in Union Jacks at the entrance to the market.
The Duke of Rothesay then made his way round the market, which usually take place fortnightly on a Saturday but was held today specially in his honour.
Stopping at several stalls despite the rain lashing down, he made special effort to bag himself some craft pies from Alford-based Wark Farm Pies.
Other business amongst those to speak with the prince was Ingram’s Aberdeenshire and family company Udny Provender, which specialises in local honey and crafts.
Keen to speak to some more locals, the duke left the market and went door to door chatting to local businesses in the square, all to the tune of 12-year-old Ruaridh Craig’s bagpipes.
“It was wet and I was nervous but he asked what my name was and asked how long I’d been playing the bagpipes,” Ruaridh said afterwards, admitting his excitement.
‘Genuinely interested’ in local businesses
The prince was then welcomed into Gibbs Menswear where he was presented with a cup of tea with milk and honey. He laughed and said “absolutely” as he poured in an all-important dram of whisky to the cup.
Barry Gibb, director of the Highland wear business, described him as a “very nice chap” and said: “We chatted about business, he asked about the pandemic and how it affected us.
“He is an ambassador for the Highland regalia so he was very interested in the back of the shop where we have our own tailoring and highland wear.
“We have our own in-house tartan and he was very interested in how we managed to come up with the colours – we have the grey for the granite, the red for Aberdeen and the gold for the whisky and we have the peat in there too.
“It’s a great honour to have the prince in Inverurie and it’s a great honour to have him in the shop. It will probably never happen again unless he comes back to get something made, which I did offer.”
Inverurie born and bred Shona Singer also welcomed the prince to her family-owned toy shop Strachans.
She was delighted at the duke’s “genuine interest” in the businesses in the town.
She said: “We said we had a lot of farming toys which we said his grandchildren would enjoy and he found that quite funny.
‘It was quite a thrill’
“It was quite a thrill, we didn’t realise he was going to come in so it was quite exciting. The staff all got to meet him which was lovely.
“He was asking a lot of questions and he does seem genuinely interested, I think from his sustainability standpoint local businesses are a massive part of that so I think he has a genuine interest.”
The Duke of Rothesay seemed to be just as delighted to receive gifts from businesses as they were to present them to him, stopping off for one final dram as the tour came to an end at Davidsons Specialist Butcher.
Margaret Robertson, from Daviot, waited outside and came to the town specially to see Charles.
“The weather has not put me off, when I was little I used to go to Birkhall school,” she said. “I met him years ago and I like him, they are very good at making effort to come round the towns.”
The duke finished his tour at Garioch Heritage Centre.
Visits to Peterhead
Earlier in the day, the duke visited the Amity Fish Company in Peterhead.
His arrival caused a stir in the town, with the royal helicopter landing at the West Links.
The visit was arranged following a meeting at Birkhall with managing director Jimmy Buchan – during which HRH expressed keen interest in the local fishing industry, sustainability and the environment.
Today was given a hands-on demonstration of how Amity’s fish boxes were picked, packaged and sent before being given a brief history of the company’s journey, including recent business challenges presented by Covid and lockdown.
He also stopped off at organic farm Rora Dairy at Longside, which has recently received official organic certification and been selected as a supplier of COP26 summit in Glasgow – which Prince Charles will attend alongside the Queen.
The couple behind the farm, Bruce and Jane Mackie, said Prince Charles was particularly interested in hearing about the environmental impacts of Rona Dairy.
Ms Mackie said: “This year has been tremendously exciting for us all at Rora and we were delighted to welcome Prince Charles to the farm to show him the results of our work to improve biodiversity and sustainability here.
“Our organic certification and selection for COP26 is recognition of our efforts and, like so many of our customers, we really feel that the prince, who is a farmer himself, understood and appreciated this.”