A railway museum in a station used by members of the Royal Family has been badly damaged by fire.
Emergency services were called to the Old Royal Station in Ballater, at around 2am today.
At the height of the incident around 50 firefighters, with five fire engines and five special appliances, were at the scene in Station Square.
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) said 75% of the building, which includes a museum and restaurant, had been badly affected by the blaze.
Watch: Drone footage shows full damage from the fire
The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall visited the museum in 2008 to officially open a reproduction Victorian railway carriage, an exact replica of the one used by Queen Victoria in 1869 to travel between Windsor and Ballater.
The project was commissioned by VisitScotland.
During his visit, Charles reminisced about childhood journeys to Ballater, which is near Balmoral Castle.
He said: “I have incredibly special memories of arriving and departing from here as a child. It is wonderful to see it brought back to life.
“I hope it will make an enormous difference to Ballater and this part of Scotland in terms of its attraction.”
According to the Visit Scotland website, the restored Victorian railway station contains displays on the 100-year history of royal use and features the royal waiting room built for Queen Victoria.
The fire service said it was too early to say how much damage has been caused to the contents.
Group manager John Morgan told BBC Radio Scotland: “It’s very much an icon within Ballater centre so the local crews from Ballater and the Deeside area obviously were aware of the importance of the property and wanted to work as hard as they could to try and protect it and save as much as possible.
“On the actual contents of the museum, it’s very hard to make any kind of judgment as to what has been damaged and what hasn’t.”
Fire crews had the blaze under control by 5.20am but will remain at the scene to extinguish any hot spots and prevent further fire spread.
There were no reports of any injuries.
Ballater originally became known as the nearest settlement to Balmoral Castle, which lies eight miles (13km) along the River Dee to the west.
The Deeside Railway brought the railway to Ballater in 1866 when it built a station there.
It was regularly used by royalty visiting the area and other guests, and it is thought many of Europe’s royalty passed through Ballater railway station in the 19th century.
