Back then, they were the perfect couple. Married for just over a year and seven months, Charles and Diana visited Glasgow and Edinburgh as Prince and Princess of Wales 30 years ago. To mark the anniversary we are taking a look back at the special Royal occasion.
Prince Charles and Princess Diana came to Glasgow and Edinburgh during a whistle stop Royal visit on March 4, 1983.
The visit was not the couple’s first to Scotland: they came to Balmoral for an extended stay following their wedding at St Paul’s Cathedral on July 29, 1981.
However, it was the Princess’s first official Royal visit to Edinburgh and the black and white pictures taken on the day show the huge affection felt for her.
The tour began in Glasgow where cheering, flag-waving crowds gave the Royal couple a rousing reception as they visited a community hall in Maryhill Road to see an exhibition on projects set up in the Strathclyde area with money from the Prince’s Trust.
Inside the hall, the Prince and Princess were greeted by a youth theatre group made up as black and white minstrels before being presented with fishing rods by Billy Crummond, 16, from Kirkintilloch, who set up a business making the rods with the help of a grant from the Prince’s Trust. The Princess also spoke to members of the Springburn Drum and Bugle Corps before leaving the hall.
Many spectators waited several hours to see the Royal couple and their patience was rewarded when, at the end of the visit, the Prince and Princess began a hand-shaking, chatting walkabout. The Princess, who was wearing a long-length, grey woollen coat and a black velvet beret with a red band, at one stage found she had momentarily lost the Prince in the crowd of officials and police as she was about to step into the Royal car to leave.
Before leaving for Edinburgh, the Prince accepted a 15 seat bus from National Carriers Fleetcare on behalf of the Prince’s Trust.
In Edinburgh, after watching a display by the Pilton Children’s Circus during a visit to the Craigroyston Community Centre in Muirhouse, the Prince raised a few laughs as he tried his hand at unicycle riding. He also met youngsters who had been helped by the Prince’s Trust at the centre.
As a treat to celebrate the Princess’s first official visit to Edinburgh, youngsters at a disco at the centre played Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Oh Diane’ and Dire Straits ‘Sultans of Swing’ for her.
The visit followed the Princess’s first official Scottish engagement in Glasgow on February 17 1983 where she opened a new £310,000 renal unit at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children at Yorkhill.
She also visited Easterhouse during the engagement, talking to residents in Lochdochart Road and Lochfield Tenants’ Hall.
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