Royals bring smiles to town of tears

The Royal couple had the emotional meeting during a visit to the village of Anstruther in Fife.

The close-knit community has suffered many drowning tragedies over the years and the couple spoke to relatives bereaved in two of the most recent incidents.

Four men died last October when the Anstruther-based Meridian disappeared during severe weather.

Charles and Camilla visited the Scottish Fisheries Museum in the village and shared a moment of prayer with relatives and survivors in the memorial room there, where dozens of mounted bronze plaques on the wall list the names of fishermen from the area lost at sea over the years.

Julia Gardner, the wife of the Meridian skipper, Martin Gardner, and Eleanor Gardner, the wife of crew member Edward Gardner were joined by Kelly Collinson, the daughter of another victim, Sid Low.

All three men, along with another crew member, Ian Donald, were drowned when the Meridian went missing in the North Sea. Only the body of Edward Gardner has been recovered.

The Royal couple also spoke to the family of John Bowman, the skipper of the Fife-based Unity, who was lost off Dorset when his vessel capsized, and to two crew members who survived the sinking, Graham Hughes and Fergus Middleton.

A Clarence House spokeswoman said: "Their Royal Highnesses were touched to be asked to come and meet the families of two relatively recent tragedies at sea."

The sombre meetings came just before the couple visited the village's RNLI lifeboat station and saw one of the emergency service's vessels launched for a live rescue.

Charles, wearing a charcoal-grey pinstripe suit, and Camilla, clad in a beige raincoat draped with a blue and green tartan scarf - and each carrying an umbrella - stopped in the rain to chat briefly to well-wishers before making their way across the road from the museum to the lifeboat station.

The RNLI in Anstruther carried out 31 launches - rescuing 23 people - last year. By coincidence, an emergency call-out occurred during the Royal visit, involving a medical evacuation from the nearby Isle of May for a 37-year-old woman with a suspected broken leg.

Among those who greeted the visitors were local MP and Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell, MEP John Purvis and Dr Andrew Cubie, of RNLI Scotland.

Later, the prince visited the Falkland Centre for Stewardship in Fife to witness preparations for the Big Tent festival, which runs from 15 to 17 June and will attract about 30,000 visitors.