THE businesswoman who helped shape Baxter's soup into an international success story has died at the age of 90.

Ena Baxter created the home-made soups which propelled Baxters of Speyside to global success and onto dinner tables for more than half a century.

She helped create the firm with her husband Gordon by using tried and trusted traditional recipes including cock-a-leekie, Scotch broth and chicken broth perfected in her own kitchen.

Her soups, made in Fochabers, Moray, sold a million cans in their first year.

Among their fans was the Royal household, with the tinned soups regularly featuring at Windsor and Balmoral. The Duke of Edinburgh is said to be a fan of Baxters Cullen Skink.

A spokesman for the company, which has been run by Mr and Mrs Baxter's daughter Audrey since 1992, said: "The Baxter family confirm with great sadness that Mrs Edna Baxter passed away on Thursday January 15.

"The family respectfully requests privacy at this difficult time."

Mrs Baxter, a talented artist who studied at Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen, retired from the firm to spend more time in her garden and in the studio.

She and her husband, who died in 2013, were patrons of the National Galleries of Scotland and supporters of Duff House, in Banff, where they held numerous exhibitions to raise money for charity.

She was awarded an honorary degree from Aberdeen University for services to the people of Scotland in 1994, and accepted a similar honour from Glasgow Caledonian University in 1995.