Mey I? Prince checks seaweed near his gran’s old castle home
IT is perhaps more humble than the usual caviar or game served up to the Royal Family.
But that didn’t stop Prince Charles from swapping his tweeds for a white coat and mesh hat as he inspected seaweed at a harvesting and processing plant in Caithness.
The 67-year-old, known for his green fingers, was yesterday shown around the New Wave Foods factory, where 17 different species of seaweed are processed.
He was joined by the firm’s operations director Tom McGee and director Peter Elbourne.
Later, swapping his white uniform for wellies and a windproof jacket, the Duke of Rothesay, as he is known in Scotland, walked along the beach to watch staff collect the edible seaweed.
To ensure long-term sustainability, New Wave Foods carefully monitors and manages wild seaweed stocks. It rotates sections of the shoreline to be harvested and allocates other areas as ‘notake zones’.
The maximum harvest quote for each species is 20 per cent of initial biomass and the seaweed is hand harvested and cut to allow regrowth.
The seaweed is collected from six different beaches, including one by the Castle of Mey, the Queen Mother’s old home near John O’Groats, where the Prince is currently staying.
Charles is president of the trust that runs the castle and stays for a week every summer.
The Duke also paid a visit to Wick Sheriff Court to mark its 150th anniversary as a part of a busy week of appointments.
On Thursday he officially opened a £500,000 warehouse for ANTA Scotland, a business in Tain, Ross-shire, that makes textiles and pottery.