Royal seal of approval for charity Munro team

A WREATH of wild flowers, made by the Duchess of Cornwall, was yesterday placed on the summit of Lochnagar - her husband's favourite Scottish mountain - as a tribute to armed forces personnel killed and injured in Afghanistan.

The duchess, who is currently holidaying with the Prince of Wales on Royal Deeside, presented the hand-made wreath at Balmoral to a charity team who are attempting to climb all of Scotland's 283 Munros in 49 days to raise thousands of pounds to support wounded service personnel.

The duchess became Royal Patron of the DecAid appeal, established by students from Exeter University to raise funds for three service charities, earlier this year.

The three-strong Munro team - Tom O'Connell, a member of Exeter University Officer Training Corps, fellow student Alex Robertson and Ceri Green, a captain in the Territorial Army - were greeted at Balmoral yesterday by the duchess where they were joined by the parents of Private Kyle Adams, a 21 year-old paratrooper from the Parachute Regiment, who was killed in Afghanistan by a roadside bomb two years ago.

John and Moira Kyle, from Croesyceiliog in Wales, accompanied the team before they set out for the summit of Lochnagar, the 3,789ft peak in Glen Muick which Prince Charles has regularly painted since he was a child.

A spokesman for DecAid said: "Mr and Mrs Adams were presented with a wreath, made from local flowers, by Her Royal Highness. It was placed on the summit of Lochnagar, dedicated to their son when the team climbed it later in the day."

He explained: "The charity appeal has been set up to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the British Armed Forces in Afghanistan.

"The team are dedicating every Munro they climb to service men and women whose lives have been lost.

"The team will also be joined by families of 14 servicemen from RAF Kinloss who lost their lives in the Nimrod crash in Afghanistan five years ago."