King wears new tartan and greets well-wishers in French on visit to Tomintoul in Scotland
The King met schoolchildren and chatted in French to some well-wishers as he visited the highest village in highland Scotland.
The King, who is on his summer break at the nearby Balmoral estate in Aberdeenshire, visited Tomintoul in the Cairngorms National Park and was welcomed by primary school children and community stalwarts.
He wore a kilt made from the King Charles III tartan, which was first seen in public a couple of weeks ago.
Villagers flocked to greet the King and the Dufftown Pipe Band performed in anticipation of his arrival.
Tomintoul, which dates from the 1750s, has a history of whisky production but faced economic downturn in the 2000s.
As a result, the community pulled together to access grant funding and to promote tourism in the region.
It now has 750 villagers – nearly twice the population in 2012 – after the community worked to address socio-economic problems including lack of development, an ageing population, and unaffordable housing.
The Glenlivet Development Trust was formed to address the economic problems and instigated a £3.3m energy-efficient housing development, the Auld School Close, on the site of a derelict school.
The King visited the site, which now has 12 affordable homes built on it, and met residents, conversing in French with some of them.
He was welcomed by local school and nursery pupils, who greeted him wearing homemade crowns and waving Scottish and British flags.
The King said to one of the children: “You have been busy making things.”
During a walkabout at the village green, an elderly man asked the King to wish his wife a happy birthday.
A woman shouted: “We love you King Charles”, and another woman showed him a blue manicure and asked: “Do you like my nails?”
Alasdair Sharp, 79, a member of the Glenlivet Development Trust board, wore a kilt for the visit of the King, whom he described as a neighbour.
Mr Sharp said: “It’s very good for the community that the King is visiting.
“He was at Braemar Games recently. To come to our little community is pretty important, we are neighbours.
“My family have lived here since 1910.
“There was a time after the war when there was two petrol stations, four pubs, six shops, but it’s all been taken over.
“It’s worked very well, we’ve pulled together, the affordable housing was a great success.
“We are now a Dark Sky Area, we are hoping to develop a camping and caravan site.
“It’s amazing how, if you know who to ask for grants, you can get them for worthwhile projects.”
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One year of King Charles III
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In 2017, the trust bought a former museum and turned it into the Tomintoul and Glenlivet Discovery Centre, and last year a Post Office was saved from closure.
The King was shown a coat believed to have belonged to an exciseman in the 1820s during the era of whisky smuggling and violent confrontations between customs officers and the illicit distilleries.
The coat, which has a high collar, deep cuffs and mother-of-pearl buttons, was found in the rafters of an old house in the village in 2003 and was thought to have been handed down to a servant.
The King was told about the history of the Tomintoul Coat, and heard how the Northern Lights had lit up the region on Tuesday night.
Two pro-Palestinian demonstrators have thrown red powder on Tower Bridge – just moments before leading runners in the London Marathon went past.
The protesters were arrested on suspicion of causing a public nuisance and remain in custody, said the Metropolitan Police.
A video shared by Youth Demand, which is calling for a trade embargo on Israel, shows two people jumping over a barrier that separates spectators from the race course.
The pair, wearing t-shirts that say “Youth Demand: Stop Arming Israel”, are then seen standing in the middle of the road on the bridge.
Pic: LNP
They throw red powder in the air as an official marathon car goes past displaying the race time.
A motorbike with a cameraman on board continues along the route, while a second motorbike stops and one of the riders gets off and pushes the pair out of the way, just before the men’s elite runners pass.
Several police officers then jump over the barrier and detain the pair, the footage shows.
There appeared to be no impact on the marathon.
More than 56,000 participants were expected to take part in the 26.2-mile race through the capital.
Sabastian Sawe of Kenya won the men’s elite race in a time of two hours, two minutes and 27 seconds, while Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa shattered the women’s-only world record in two hours, 15 minutes and 50 seconds.
Assefa beat the previous best of two hours, 16 minutes and 16 seconds set last year in London by Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir.
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Pic: LNP
The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: “At around 10.38am, two protesters from Youth Demand jumped over barriers at Tower Bridge and threw red paint on to the road.
“Marathon event staff intervened to remove the protesters from the path of the men’s elite race which was able to pass unobstructed.”
The force added that they were “quickly supported by police officers who arrested the protesters on suspicion of causing a public nuisance”.
The Met said the paint “appeared to be chalk-based” and was not expected to “present a hazard to runners yet to pass this point”.
Counter-terrorism police are investigating after an incident involving a crossbow and a firearm left two women injured in Leeds.
Police were called to Otley Road at 2.47pm on Saturday to reports of a “serious incident involving a man seen with weapons”, West Yorkshire Police said.
Officers arrived at the scene to find two women injured – and a 38-year-old man with a self-inflicted injury. All three were taken to hospital, with the man held under arrest, but their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
“Two weapons have been recovered from the scene, which were a crossbow and a firearm,” Counter Terrorism Policing North East said in a statement.
The incident happened on the ‘Otley Run’ pub crawl, with one venue saying it was closed for the evening due to “unforeseen circumstances”.
Officers guard one of the crime scenes
Officers inside the cordon in Leeds
Counter Terrorism Policing’s statement added: “Due to the circumstances surrounding the incident, Counter Terrorism Policing North East have taken responsibility for leading the investigation with the support of West Yorkshire Police.
“Extensive enquiries continue to establish the full circumstances and explore any potential motivation.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described it as a “serious violent incident” and said she was being kept updated by police.
“Thank you to the police and emergency services for their swift response,” she said. “My thoughts are with the victims and all those affected by this attack.”
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