The Duke and Duchess of Rothesay spent the day on the Isle of Skye this week to see how the community has fared since the end of pandemic lockdowns.
Prince Charles and Camilla, known by their Rothesay titles in Scotland, travelled to the town of Portree and Dunvegan Castle during their visit.
During their walkabout of Portree, the largest town and capital of the Isle of Skye, the royals met with members of the local Royal National Lifeboat Institution, food producers, business owners, and first responders who worked throughout the pandemic.
Prince Charles and Camilla first paid a visit to Skyeskyns, which some believe may be the last commercial woolskin tanner in Scotland. They were gifted with a sheepskin gift by founding director Lydia Hartwell.
Their next stop was to ÒR, a design shop, where they met with its owner, Jen Pearson, and her husband and 10-week-old baby. Pearson told The Free Press after their visit, “They were both very nice and relaxed and asked how the business had been doing, Charles was asking about the different designers we worked with and joked that he might have a job getting the Duchess out of the shop.”
At The Isle of Skye Soap Company, the royals were gifted with soapboxes, and at the Isle of Skye Distillers gin school, Prince Charles sampled some raspberry gin.
The royals met with piper Archie Maclean and enjoyed a performance from acclaimed singer Robert Robertson. Robertson told The Free Press: “One of the songs actually describes looking over from the Western Isles to Skye and seeing the Cuillin Hills and the mist. I thought that would be a good story to tell.
“It wasn’t nerve-wracking, the Duke and Duchess have a really down to earth way about them. And because they have attended the Royal National Mòd, they have a real interest in that, and in Gaelic. It just felt like a really nice conversation, and it was a real pleasure.”
Their visit to Portree ended with fish and chips provided by local fisherman Dan Corrgiall, who owns a fish and chips shop in the town and a chat with first responders on the pier about the coronavirus pandemic.
Clarence House noted that “ever resilient, business owners and the local community are now bouncing back and doing all they can to safely welcome back visitors from across the UK and beyond to showcase the very special scenery, warm welcome and sense of community that makes Portree and the Isle of Skye famous across the globe.”
Next, the royal couple travelled to Dunvegan Castle in Dunvegan, where they met with the Chief of the Clan MacLeod. Dunvegan Castle is the ancestral home of Clan MacLeod and is likely one of the oldest continuously habited castles in Scotland, with the family living there for 800 years.
The Duke and Duchess of Rothesay’s visit coincided with the completion of a 13-year restoration project to the castle and its surrounding gardens. They met with Hugh MacLeod, head of Clan MacLeod, and received a tour of the grounds from Ingrid Galbraith, Head Gardener, and David MacLean, a retired Head Gardener.
“It was a great pleasure to welcome Their Royal Highnesses, the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay, to Dunvegan Castle & Gardens, and to have an opportunity to show them the fruits of all the hard work the estate staff and our dedicated team of external contractors have put in over the last thirteen years,” said MacLeod in a press release on the Castle’s website.
This was Prince Charles and Camilla’s first visit to the Isle of Skye since 2009.
