Scottish Royal visit: King Charles and Queen Camilla face torrential rain - and protester - at Kirkcaldy war memorial

Charles and Camilla sheltered under umbrellas as they left a wreath at the memorial in Kirkcaldy, Fife, on Wednesday as hundreds of spectators watched the poignant service.

Former prime minister Gordon Brown later joined the King at a solo event, while wife Sarah Brown met the Queen when she visited a cancer centre run by Maggie’s – an organisation both women officially support.

Charles’s first task was to unveil a cairn commissioned to mark the 100th anniversary of the Kirkcaldy War Memorial Gardens and designed as a time capsule for future generations.

King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrive to unveil a Commemorative Cairn to mark the centenary of the Kirkcaldy War Memorial, as part of their trip to Scotland for Holyrood Week. Picture: Aaron Chown/PA Wire

He chatted to pupils from local Viewforth High School who had helped fill the capsule with school mementos and memory sticks filled with photos, and quipped about the rain: “I keep telling myself it’s a blessing.”

Camilla said: “It’s a bit damp.” She added: “We’ve been used to the heatwave.”

The royal couple, who are spending their official week in Scotland known as Holyrood Week, arrived in Fife as the heavy showers began and met dozens of well-wishers waiting behind barriers.

Holding umbrellas, they shook hands with the public. But at one point a lone protester stood a few feet from the King and shouted his apparent opposition to Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip, alleging “weapons that we sell contribute to genocide”.

King Charles III during a minute silence after laying a wreath at Kirkcaldy War Memorial. Picture: Aaron Chown/PA Wire

After the brief wreath-laying service, Camilla left to visit Maggie’s Fife while Charles toured the nearby Kirkcaldy Art Gallery.

The King chatted to representatives of Fife-based charities and organisations, which included Fife Multibank, an initiative founded by Mr Brown that provides essential goods to low-income families and now has five other organisations across the country.

Mr Brown said afterwards: “The biggest problem in Britain today is the divisions caused by child poverty and we’re doing something about it, in the way that we can.

“We saw that goods surplus to companies were not being repurposed into a circular economy, and we thought we could solve some of the problems of pollution and poverty at the same time.

“We’ve got 90 companies now and we’re working with 1,000 organisations in Fife. So we work with all the schools, social workers, health visitors, foodbanks and charities – we have given out in total, around the UK in the last year or two, eight million goods worth about £80 million.”

Arriving in heavy rain later at Maggie’s, Camilla was greeted by the organisation’s chief executive Dame Laura Lee before moving inside to meet staff, volunteers and centre users.

Maggie’s Fife opened in 2006 in the grounds of Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy and was the first permanent structure in the UK by architect Dame Zaha Hadid.

Built in the grounds of NHS hospitals, the cancer support charity centres aim to provide a comforting space where patients can meet others who understand what they are going through.

Camilla has been president of the charity since 2008 and since then has visited 17 out of the 24 centres.

During her visit on Wednesday, the Queen also met Mrs Brown and broadcaster Kirsty Wark who have both long been patrons of Maggie’s.

Mrs Brown said: “I think it’s really special for the Queen to come to the Maggie’s here in Kirkcaldy.

“I know that there has been a warm welcome for both the King and the Queen coming to Fife and I’m so pleased she was able to make time to come to the Maggie’s.

“This, I think, is one of the real gems. I was here at the opening a long time ago and I’ve seen it grow to become such an important part of the community.

“There are people here with cancer who need it, and their families, but also people are fundraising for it and they just feel so connected to it.”

Mrs Brown said the Queen seemed interested to hear about the young people’s group at the centre.

She said: “I was very struck by her hearing about the young people’s group here because that is an area of concern in that field, that there are more and more young people with cancer and trying to understand why that is and what’s happening in our lives, and that was definitely something she homed in on and understood it was a concern.

“She was pleased to hear there is such an active young person’s group here.”

Wark, who has been a Maggie’s patron for more than 20 years, said the Queen was “incredibly committed” to Maggie’s and her visit on Wednesday meant a lot to those at the Fife centre.

She said: “When the Queen is here what she wants to do is speak to centre users, they are the best advocates for Maggie’s and often you will find that a centre user becomes a volunteer.”

The Queen also met Gregor Forbes, 37, who was diagnosed with stage three Hodgkin Lymphoma in January 2022, seven days before his son was born.

He underwent six months of chemotherapy and has since been in remission.

He joined a discussion with the Queen, Mrs Brown and Wark and told them about his experience taking part in the young person’s group at Maggie’s.

Mr Forbes, who lives in Rosyth in Fife, said: “The Queen seemed really warm and really engaged and it was really nice that she came. It’s a day I will never forget.”

Maggie’s was founded by the late writer, gardener and designer Maggie Keswick Jencks and her husband, the late landscape designer Charles Jencks.