THE NEW King’s green agenda is well-known and it was here in Glasgow in 2010 that the then Prince Charles “stuck his neck out” in the fight against climate change.
Sitting on a collapsible red bike, he launched the START cycling challenge and donated a pair of old green corduroy trousers to the Marks and Spencer Oxfam stall at Central Station, before proclaiming: “However awful a predicament we face with climate change and the unsustainable use of the natural resources that keep us all alive, we aren’t going to get anywhere by telling everyone what they need to stop doing.”
He also spoke to Jim Little, of Caurnie Soaperie, based in Kirkintilloch.
Mr Little said: “Our soap is long-lasting but it’s not as long-lasting as the monarchy. He (His Royal Highness) sticks his neck out for a true cause that he really believes in.”
READ MORE: ‘Guid oan ye, missus’: Queen’s warm welcome on Glasgow visits through the decades
The King also stood up for the young people at Sighthill Youth Centre on a visit there in 2003.
Volunteers told him disco equipment they had planned to buy with money his charity had donated two years earlier had still not arrived. The then-prince told an aide to investigate, and the equipment was duly delivered shortly after.
On his many visits to Glasgow through the decades, Charles always took time to stop and chat to people of all ages.
On a visit to House for an Art Lover in 2003, he met old friend, Dorothy Clark, 84, from Newton Mearns, who had been following the royal family since the days of King George and Queen Mary, and who had met the prince countless times.
In April 2006, he personally delivered a card from the Queen to Margaret Garrity, a volunteer at the Larkfield Centre in Govanhill, who was celebrating her 80th birthday.
Prince Charles with Margaret Garrity
At Castlemilk Stables, he chatted to Lewis Cruikshanks, three, and Robert Stanulis, four, from the Inbetweenies Nursery.
Prince Charles talks to children at the Inbetweenies Nursery in Castlemilk
In 2004 he was presented with ceremonial robes at the then RSAMD where he was made a Doctor of the Academy.
READ MORE: Pictures tell story of Queen’s visits to Glasgow
In 1978, he met Blackhill housewives Elizabeth Welsh and Matilda McDonald.
Prince Charles in conversation with volunteers in Blackhill, 1978
He was in the area to give the new Molendinar community centre his Royal seal of approval.
He joined in some of the activities, learning how to cast with some keen fly-fishers.
We reported: “On his whistle-stop tour, which was happily free of pomp and ceremony, Prince Charles shows that he has the ability to make friends… particularly in Blackhill, where he got a right royal welcome.”
When Prince Charles visited Sighthill Youth Centre in 2001, racial tension was at its height after the murder of Firsat Dag, a Kurdish asylum-seeker who had been stabbed returning from a night out.
Two years later, HRH returned – by helicopter – to see the progress that had been made in community relations. He chatted with local children and met young asylum seekers from the youth centre’s art project, who performed a rap and dance routine about drugs, violence and the need for peace in communities.
One Congolese youngster, 14-year-old Arnold, who had been in Glasgow for two months, said: ”My rap was about peace in the world and I think that is something the prince would like to see.”
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