Prince Charles has been meeting some of the army heroes who stormed the beaches of Normandy. The Prince of Wales chatted with a group of Scottish veterans, who told him of their memories of World War II, during a visit to Stirling's Albert Halls.
The 55-year-old has been making a series of appearances to mark the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings, a counter-offensive launched against the Germans in 1944. Charles is Colonel-in-Chief of the Black Watch Regiment and Deputy Colonel-in-Chief of the Highlanders.
But one of the feisty veterans was less than impressed when he noticed the royal visitor was not wearing the right kilt. Ex-Black Watch platoon sergeant Charles Swanson demanded to know why the future king was not sporting the regiment's traditional tartan. When Charles, who was wearing a green Hunting Stewart kilt, assured him that he had worn a Black Watch tie the day before, the 83-year-old said: "Well, where is it today? You’re not wearing it today!".
Afterwards Charles struck up a conversation with 95-year-old Jim Shields, who was rather more charmed by the visitor. After the decorated solider told him how much he admired him, Charles replied: "Not half as much as I admire you. We owe you all a great deal for everything you went through over there."
And there was no disagreement about the Prince's attire when, later in the day, he donned his Naval uniform to take the salute from 650 veterans in Portsmouth. A crowd of some 5,000 wellwishers turned out to greet the Vice Admiral when he paid tribute to the men who helped turn the tide against the Nazis.
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