HM’s pleasure as sun f inally puts its hat on
NO wonder one is smiling – it has been a long time since the sun shone on Royal Deeside.
Yesterday the Queen l ooked resplendent in a subtly checked fawn suit and matching hat as she atte nded Crathie Kirk just down the road from Balmoral. She seemed relaxed as she left the church with Prince Charles.
Two hundred people waited at Crathie to greet her, with Prince Charles and Camilla arriving in their own car with Charles at the wheel.
Last week, the Prince unveiled his latest painting of the Castle of Mey, the treasured Caithness home of the late Queen Mother.
It was one of two watercolours he presented to the Society of Caithness Artists 80th annual exhibition in Thurso, which ended on Saturday.
He painted the castle last year while on holiday and submitted it along with a work dating from 2006 that depicts a lane near Sandringham, the Queen’s Norfolk retreat.
It was a first outing for the Castle of Mey picture and reflects the Prince’s love of the castle looking out over the Pentland Firth to the island of Stroma. A total of 401 exhibits from 113 artists on display fetched from £5 to £1,750, but the Prince’s work, heavily insured, was not for sale.
However, another of his watercolours of the castle from a different angle is available online for £2,500 as a lithograph in support of The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Foundation.
The Society of Caithness Artists’ chairman Ian Pearson, a glass artist, said: ‘The Prince was very impressed with the exhibits. He normally puts in two to our exhibition. He has painted the Castle of Mey a few times and this is a new one.’