Charles and Camilla begin their annual week-long visit to Wales with series of engagements

On Monday, the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall began their annual week-long visit to Wales. Starting the trip at Iceland for the first engagement of the day, the Prince was greeted by the Lord-Lieutenant of Clwyd, Mr Henry Fetherstonhaugh, and was introduced to chief executive Sir Malcolm Walker, managing director Tarsem Dhaliwal, head of commercial Paul Dhaliwal, and Richard Walker, the BITC’S Business Ambassador for Wales and chairman of Surfers Against Sewage.

The first stop of the engagement was at a reverse vending machine that rewards customers for recycling. The Prince then moved on to learn about the company’s sustainability projects and community initiatives. The new projects include plastic-free packaging and plastic-free bags. It was then onto the Iceland Development Kitchen, where the Prince sampled products and discussed fish sourcing. To end the visit, as is common with royal engagements, the Prince unveiled a plaque commemorating the visit.

Iceland was founded in 1970 by two young Woolsworth deputy store managers who suggested they sell loose frozen food. The first shop opened on 18 November, and it was an immediate success. Today, the store has annual sales approaching £4 billion across its 1000 UK stores and its 27 stores in the Republic of Ireland. Iceland is also an export business, serving more than 40 countries and more than 30,000 UK employees. The 1000th Iceland store will open this week in Newport. The Princess Royal opened the 500th store in Clapham in 1991.

After visiting Iceland, the Prince was received by Majesty’s Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Clwyd at the global pharmaceutical company Wockhardt – one of the largest suppliers to the National Health Service (NHS.) During the visit, the Prince of Wales met with apprentices and visited the Quality Control Laboratory. The laboratory is currently producing 300 million doses of the Oxford – AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. The Prince then saw how drug substances and raw materials are stored before he thanked employees and unveiled a plaque.

Wockhardt employs more than 500 people who work at its factory. Along with the COVID vaccine, the site manufactures a number of sterile injectable products in areas such as diabetes and pain management. These products are also available in many forms, like vials and cartridges. The site in Wrexham is able to produce around 150,000 vials a day of the Oxford – AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

To finish Monday off, The Prince of Wales was greeted by Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Clwyd at St Winefride’s Chapel. The Lord-Lieutenant presented the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wrexham and Roman Catholic parish Priest Holywell, Father Justin Karakadu. Then, the Prince toured the Chapel, which has been a place of unbroken pilgrimage for over 1300 years.