His Royal Highness, The Duke of Rothesay, visited and laid a wreath at the Cabrach Cairn, Huntly, on Sunday (August 23).
The Cairn, built by the Cabrach Community Association commemorates lives lost during the First World War.
On arrival, Prince Charles was met by Mrs. Clare Russell, Lord-Lieutenant of Banffshire before continuing to the Cairn.
The Reverend John Forbes offered a prayer for those from the Cabrach who lost their lives in the First World War before HRH lays a Wreath.
A representative of the Gordon Highlanders also laid a wreath while Pipe Major Alistair Laing, of the Lonach Highlanders, played ‘The Flowers of the Forest’.
The Prince then met representative of the local community, some of whom were actively involved in building the Cairn or are descendants of those lost from the area during the First World War.
While no accurate records exist concerning the exact number of lives lost, the Imperial War Museum suggests that, when combined with the neighbouring parishes of Rhynie, Lumsden and Dufftown, the figure could be several hundred.
Many of the men from these parishes would have joined the 5th and 6th Battalions, The Gordon Highlanders.
The loss of so many men from this rural area, previously home to a great many crofters and with numerous small farms, resulted in a significant drop in the local population.
In order to appropriately recognise and commemorate this tragic, and impactful, loss of life, members of the local Cabrach community joined together to build a First World War Memorial Cairn at Inverharroch, (Lower Cabrach).
The Cairn has been constructed, in the traditional manner, using stones gathered from surrounding fields and without any mortar.