The Prince of Wales unveiled the £40,000 sculpture on Crown Estate land near Fochabers in Moray to mark the contribution made by members of the Women's Land Army (WLA) – and marked their truly remarkable contribution to the war effort as he met surviving members.
The women helped to feed the nation by working on the country's farms during the Second World War. At the unveiling, the Prince, who is formally known as the Duke of Rothesay when on duty in Scotland, said: "It gives me enormous pride to be able to join you on this exposed hilltop to pay a small tribute of my own to all the remarkable Land Girls who did so much during the years when the country was under threat."
He added: "There are still several hundred land girls left, the only problem is that it's taken nearly 70 years or something in order to ensure there was a memorial."
The creation of the memorial was steered by former National Farmers Union Scotland president Jim McLaren, whose mother Katherine was a Land Girl.
The Prince said an "enormous debt of gratitude" was owed to Mr McLaren. The WLA was established in 1917 by the UK Board of Agriculture, which drafted 20,000 women to work on the land.
But it came into its own over 20 years later with up to 80,000 members milking, lambing, shearing, planting, harvesting and operating machinery during the war years.
Their experiences varied; some said despite the hard work it was the happiest time of their lives, whereas for others it was a lonely experience, dogged by homesickness.
In 2007, a statue of a member of the Women's Timber Corps, the lumberjills, was unveiled at a Forestry Commission site at Aberfoyle, prompting discussions about permanently recognising the WLA.
