WHEN, sometime in early 1987, Prince Charles decided that he wanted to experience the simple life of a crofter, and to do it secretly, without any media attention, there was an obvious choice: Berneray (pop 120), a small island in the Sound of Harris, just off North Uist.
"He wanted to see how people live and work and what their problems are", said the Prince's friend, Lord Lieutenant Earl Granville, the Queen's cousin, who lived at Bayhead, North Uist. "He had visited the island and met the people concerned, and it seemed the ideal choice. I took him over and met him on his return and I'm sure he enjoyed himself".
Charles, whose previous trip to Berneray had been made with his then wife, the Princess of Wales, two years earlier, spent three enjoyable days there in May 1987, living in Burnside croft, the guest of Donald Alex ('Splash') MacKillop and his wife, Gloria, the district nursing supervisor. He helped with the lambing, mending fences, carrying in peats, and going creel fishing on a four-hour-long boat trip in the Minch. He even donned an old boiler suit in order to do some work on crofts.
"Nobody bothered him", said islander Mary MacAskill, once news had broken of the royal trip. "Nobody hid behind walls or ran along the road to get a look at him. We just left him in peace to relax and see how we live".
Newspaper headlines ranged from 'Prince of Wellies' to 'The hermit heir' and 'Prince finds peace alone'. The Sun opted for 'A Loon Again: Hermit Charles Plants Spuds on Remote Isle' ('Splash' reportedly refused offers of thousands of pounds from top restaurants for the 'prince's potatoes').
There was a touching postscript to that clandestine visit four years later, during Hallowe'en 1991, when Charles agreed to return to Berneray, this time for a Grampian TV documentary presented by Selina Scott. Given a renewed interest in the Gaelic language and a notable increase in plans for Gaelic TV, Scott explained on her voiceover, Charles "felt that television itself could play a part in highlighting the most important aspects of the culture".
Available to watch on YouTube, the documentary, A Prince Among Islands, an affectionate reminder of the place that Scotland holds in his heart. Once again he stayed with the MacKillops, who had been in the process of extending their croft so that they could offer B&B to visitors. "He was a joy to be around and he could be naughty too", Gloria would recall.
Charles's hopes of a restful night - he had returned from Canada barely 24 hours earlier and was still suffering from jet-lag - were however marred by the islanders' Hallowe'en party for local children, complete with fireworks and accordion music.
Charles enjoyed hearty meals with his hosts. Scott later recalled: "We ate traditional Scottish fare, tatties and mince, at the kitchen table, which Charles wolfed down so fast he often mischievously took to spearing the potatoes from my plate".
As he strolled with Scott along the windswept, three-mile long West Beach Charles said that when he had visited in 1987, 'Flash' had reminded him that the royal yacht Britannia had arrived at Berneray - "back in 1956, I think, and we had a picnic on the beach on the other side there. And I can just remember it, actually. He was saying we played football on the Machair there..."
The heir to the throne was, at times, in a reflective and candid mood, telling Scott that she was "very lucky" in that her life was not "mapped out for you for every minute, for every hour, for every day".
He also told her: "Let me tell you there are many times I feel totally trapped. I lack a great deal of confidence, so it is quite a struggle. I could quite happily decide to lead a much quieter existence and make speeches which were purely replete with platitudes but I don't think that is going to get anybody anywhere".
When Scott asked him why he felt trapped, he talked about the pressures of privilege and responsibility. "I have a very well-developed conscience, I suppose, which is always needling me. I look around and see so many people in far less fortunate positions than I am in, and I feel: 'Here I am in this position. What can I do to the best of my ability to improve their lot?'"
A detailed list of Charles's connections with Scotland would fill many pages - from his years spent boarding at Gordonstoun School in Moray to the long holidays enjoyed at Balmoral, and the royal engagements, quite without number, that he has carried out across Scotland. He has toured the country widely, opening new facilities and meeting all sorts of people. He has been up for the odd challenge too, as in July 1979 when, visiting a farm at Taynuilt, Argyllshire, he wrestled with a sheep as he tried to shear it.
As he laboured to put the sheep on its back it made a bolt for freedom through his legs. "I was worried about the horns", Charles later quipped. "It nearly ruined the dynasty".
The following April he sailed from Stornoway harbour for a two-day fishing trip in the North Atlantic aboard a 1,600-ton Hull trawler, Junella, with a promise that he would see the tough fisherman's life as it really was. Conditions included winds of between force 5 and force 7. Charles, who was responsible for one 50-stone haul of fish and prawns, fitted in with the crew, and said of his experience on the trawler that it had been "marvellous and not too rough".
He also published, in 1980, a children's book, The Old Man of Lochnagar, about an eccentric old man who lived in a cave at the foot of Lochnagar, near Balmoral. It had been written more than a decade earlier. "A litmus of the Prince's mood on the cusp of adulthood, tinged with melancholy and whimsy in equal measure", writes his biographer, Sally Bedell Smith, "the story revealed his fertile imagination, his nagging loneliness, and his keen observation of the natural world. It was written in a meandering stream-of-consciousness style, capturing the perspective of a yearning but rather dyspeptic outsider".
Charles's dislike of the Gordonstoun culture when he was young has been widely chronicled. As the Queen's biographer Robert Hardman has noted, it wasn't the school's rugged, outdoors ambience that Charles hated (the so-called 'Colditz with kilts" culture) but the fact that some of the more unpleasant boys picked on him. Tina Brown, in her most recent book about the royals, notes that Charles suffered "five years of miserably inventive bullying".
It's worth pointing out, though, that in the words of an online article last September on the Independent School Parent website, King Charles has, when speaking publicly about his time at Gordonstoun, habitually described it as a positive and enriching experience. The school itself says that Charles's life of service, love of the outdoors, enjoyment of the arts and intellectual curiosity "were all nurtured during his five years" there.
There was one incident that made the papers, in June 1963, involving, of all things, a 2s 6d cherry brandy. Then aged 14, Charles, having sailed to the island with four other Gordonstoun pupils, found himself in the Crown Hotel, on Stornoway, and ordered the brandy from the landlord and handed over half a crown. But he was decidedly under-age, and, what's more, a journalist happened to overhear the exchange. Charles's friend and bodyguard, who was present at the bar, was later fired. "Hardly had I taken a sip when the whole world exploded around my ears", Charles would recall.
In November 1968 the Prince, not long after he turned 20, was a popular guest of honour on the QE2 as the Cunarder eased out of the John Brown yard at Clydebank, where it had been built, and began a two-hour-plus journey to Greenock dry dock.
Charles was a hit with the workers. He spoke to one group and in particular to a man who had greeted him with 'Good luck, Charles'. The prince asked him if he had had much to do with the QE2. Not much, conceded the worker who, moments later, once Charles had gone, told reporters that although he was a general labourer his main job was cleaning the toilets. "He keeps the place clean," John Rannie, of Upper Clyde Shipbuilders, murmured in an aside to the Prince.
It's difficult to keep track of all of Charles's subsequent engagements north of the border. Certainly, one of the best-known ones came on April 29, 1988, when he and Diana dropped in on the Glasgow Garden Festival for the opening ceremony.
Diana, as she was in the habit of doing, stole the show, but Charles seemed to enjoy himself. To general amusement he adopted a mock-Scots accent to read several lines from a folk song by Adam McNaughton. Afterwards, the royal couple repaired to Glasgow Cathedral, where he laid the foundation stone for a visitor centre that would be a key part of a £15 million redevelopment there. Diana then left for Glasgow airport, but Charles remained behind, officially opening the upmarket shopping mall at Princes Square in Buchanan Street. He had to borrow a pound coin in order to pay for a shoe-shine in the mall.
Charles had first met Diana in 1977, but romance was said to have blossomed at Balmoral in July 1980 when Diana went to help her sister Lady Jane, who was married to the Queen's assistant private secretary, with her first baby. "The Prince", wrote the Glasgow Herald later, "and Lady Diana walked through Highland scenery together and she watched him fish in the Dee".
it wasn’t until after Diana had spent a weekend at Balmoral in September 1980, at the Queen's invitation, that the tabloids latched onto Charles's latest paramour. "He's in love again! Lady Di is the new girl for Charles" said The Sun in a front-page scoop. Newspaper photographers had spotted her at the Braemar Highland Games in the royal box. The secret was out. Diana, notes Sally Bedell Smith, impressed family and friends with her enthusiasm for life in the Highlands during her time at Balmoral.
Banner headlines greeted the news, on February 24 the following year, that the 32-year-old prince was now engaged to the 19-year-old Lady Di. The Glasgow Herald splashed the news across most of its front page and backed it up with a four-page souvenir supplement, which noted, inter alia, that Lady Diana's mother lived with her husband, Peter, on a 100-acre estate on the island of Seil, 14 miles south of Oban. Columnist William Hunter wrote an article about all of the prince's previous conquests - a sizeable list. "As Scots folk like to say", Hunter concluded, "he has had a good innings".
Among those who conveyed their delight at the news of the engagement was the proprietor of Stornoway's Crown Hotel, where a teenage prince had ordered that fateful cherry brandy.
A couple of days after the announcement, thousands of wellwishers greeted the Prince as he carried out a series of engagements in the west of Scotland. The host at one lunch, however, made a slip of the tongue when to his horror he expressed good wishes for long life and happiness to the Prince "and Lady Jane", referring to Lady Jane Wellesley, daughter of the 8th Duke of Wellington, and one of the women in Hunter's article.
The Prince, whose patience has been sorely tested by much modern architecture, takes considerable pride in Dumfries House, the splendid 18th century Palladian country house in Cumnock, east Ayrshire, which was saved for the nation in 2007 by a Charles-led consortium.
Sally Bedell Smith narrates in her biography 'Charles' the story of the Prince's involvement in the purchase of the property when it was put up for sale by the 7th Marquess of Bute, the former racing driver, John Bute. The purchase was aided by a substantial injection of funds by a Scottish government then led by Alex Salmond.
A triumphant Charles and First Minister visited the property in mid-July 2007 and the former had the best moment of his day, says Bedell Smith, when he and Salmond went to Cumnock's town square.
"Residents waved yellow and red Lion Rampant flags ...and gave them a joyous greeting", she writes. "'The square was packed with the long-term unemployed', said James Knox [an Old Etonian local sheep farmer and writer who had alerted Charles to the imminent sale of Dumfries House]. 'They were shouting, "Charlie is my darling". They cheered and cheered and cheered'".
Not every Scot, of course, will be glued to the television today to watch the live coverage of the Coronation at Westminster Abbey. There are, north of the border as elsewhere in the country, sharply divided opinions about the monarchy, and the new king. Many Scots however believe that Charles has a sincere love of Scotland.
Ewan Venters, a trustee of the Prince's Trust Foundation, told the BBC last week that Charles's love and passion for Scotland was well known. "I think he has, actually, a very deep understanding of Scottish people and why Scotland is such an important part of the union," Venters said.
Reflecting the monarch's close relationship with the Church of Scotland, the current Moderator of the General Assembly, the Rt Rev Iain Greenshields, will attend the service, as will the Dean of the Chapel Royal in Scotland, Rev Professor David Fergusson.
Highlighting the Crown's close connection with the Church of Scotland, the Moderator will present the King with a Bible during the Coronation service. Such a presentation has been part of every Coronation service since 1689.
Prior to the death of his mother Charles held the title of Duke of Rothesay, and other Scottish titles, including those of Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland.
Talking to Selina Scott back in 1992, he said: "I'm one of these sort of people who takes even apparently honorific titles rather seriously. And one of the titles that I have always liked is the Lord of the Isles - partly because I'm an incurable romantic, and it is a marvellously romantic title. But also because", he added, "I always have had a soft spot for Scotland". And his time on Berneray in 1987 was, he said, "the best I have ever had".
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here