Charles in Scotland to view storm damage hours after Andrew drops HRH style
The Prince of Wales toured the Haddow Estate in Aberdeenshire, which lost hundreds of thousands of trees in Storm Arwen.
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Your support makes all the difference.The Prince of Wales has been meeting residents in the north east of Scotland less than 24 hours after his younger brother was stripped of his honorary military titles and gave up his HRH style.
On Thursday evening, Buckingham Palace announced the Duke of York’s military affiliations and royal patronages have been returned to the Queen.
The move came after a judge in America threw out Andrew’s motion to dismiss a civil sexual assault case against him, and ruled it can go to trial.
It is not known if Charles – who is the Duke of Rothesay in Scotland – made any mention of his brother as he met people involved in the clear-up operation after Storm Arwen
Between 500,000 and one million trees were uprooted on the Haddo Estate in Aberdeenshire at the end of November as winds of up to 100mph hit the area.
Efforts to clear the once-dense woodlands of fallen trees ahead of replanting have only just begun.
Charles spoke to landscape manager Oliver Deeming and head of visitor services Susanna Atkinson as he walked the “Scots Mile” road towards the National Trust for Scotland property at the centre of the estate, Haddo House.
At the house, the prince met representatives from Aberdeenshire Council, the police and power provider SSEN to hear about the impact of Storm Arwen and the state of recovery efforts.
The country park is currently closed to visitors for safety reasons due to the storm damage.
A local resident said Charles’s visit was the first day for some time that the sound of chainsaws was not ringing out around the area.
The visit also took place after the Prime Minister’s former director of communications issued an apology over a No 10 party held the night before the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral.
James Slack, who until last year was Boris Johnson’s director of communication, apologised on Friday morning for the “anger and hurt” his leaving party in April 2021 had caused.
The Telegraph had reported that advisers and civil servants gathered after work for two separate events on April 16 2021, as the country was in a period of mourning after the death of Prince Philip.