The day Camilla left the Royals on the shelf
THEY say you should never judge a book by its cover – but the Duchess of Rothesay must have been slightly taken aback when visiting a Scots bookshop yesterday.
Nonetheless, Camilla took the sight of the Queen and the Duchess of Cambridge beaming down from the shelves in her stride at Deeside Books in Ballater.
Prince Charles and Camilla spent the afternoon in the village, only a few miles from Balmoral, to see how the community has bounced back from last winter’s catastrophic flooding. Hundreds of residents had to flee their homes and 60 businesses were forced to close when the River Dee burst its banks.
The royal couple visited Ballater not long after the flooding – and returned yesterday to see how the community is faring.
Deeside Books was shut for 14 months after floodwater destroyed almost 10,000 books.
Owner Marilyn Wayte said: ‘They came when it was just newly flooded and remember the smell of the oil and the mess it was in. It was really nice of them to come now it has been opened up again.’
Camilla then sampled the produce at the recently reopened Shorty’s ice cream parlour.
Owner Cheryl Littlewood said: ‘The duchess tried a number of ice creams and seemed to like them all. They were around at the time of the floods. The support they gave has been brilliant and this visit will only help.’
‘The support they gave has been brilliant’