Painted by C, the artist formerly known as Prince

HANGING alongside paintings by dozens of other enthusiastic amateurs, the two watercolours clearly display a love of Highland landscapes under dramatic skies.

But they don’t give away too much about the identity of the artist. He signs his work simply with a C.

But a discreet inquiry at the Society of Caithness Artists exhibition at Thurso High School will confirm that the paintings are the work of the heir to the throne.

On view to the public for the first time, the watercolours depict two Scottish locations particularly dear to Prince Charles, known as the Duke of Rothesay when he is in Scotland.

The first, Exhibit 315, is entitled Abandoned Croft on the Island of Stroma (II). Last year, the Prince showed version number one at the annual exhibition.

Next to it is Exhibit 316, Loch Stack, a depiction of the location of some of the best sea trout fishing in Scotland. Both paintings carry a small NFS – Not For Sale – tag.

For the Prince, Stroma in the Pentland Firth is a familiar landscape visible from the Castle of Mey, holiday home of his grandmother the Queen Mother, where he is on his annual ten-day stay.

The 930-acre island was abandoned in the late 1950s.

As a keen angler, Charles is also a frequent visitor to Loch Stack, at the head of the River Laxford in Sutherland. The Prince’s watercolour shows the loch and its old boathouse in the distance under a moody sky threatening rain.

Society chairman Ian Pearson said: ‘The Duke has kindly exhibited two of his own works, watercolours, at several recent exhibitions.’

The exhibition runs until August 10.