A big anniversary of a Royal scandal based in the Hebrides is nearing.
Not only that but I can exclusively reveal yet another incident in which the same royal figure ended up 30 years later as a bit of a damp squib.
But first, there is a lot of speculation that we are going to get a new political party being formed in the Western Isles.
From what we hear, it is likely to be islanders tackling island issues – like ferries – because the other parties have not cared about them for decades.
Not much info has come out yet but a one-issue party focusing on ferries and maybe inviting private operators to ply the routes, because the Scottish Government cannot, would be a winner. I’d probably vote for that … maybe.
Meanwhile, this coming Saturday, June 17, is a special date for naughty youngsters in the Western Isles, for brats everywhere, for Stornoway historians, and it’s a much-dreaded date for His Majesty King Charles III.
60 years since King Charles sailed from Gordonstoun to Stornoway
For it is exactly 60 years to the day that the young prince sailed from his school, Gordonstoun into Stornoway, went to the upstairs cocktail bar in the Crown Hotel, and ordered – a cherry brandy. The wee blighter was only 14.
Sneaking off from the cop Donald Green assigned to make sure he was safe, he pretended he was going to the movies in Stornoway Playhouse.
Eagle-eyed locals recognised him and were shocked. Some smart young Stornowegians, only just at the legal swigging age themselves, twigged what was going on. A freelance journalist was also in the corner. They get everywhere, you know.
My late sister-in-law was working through the wall in the kitchen and news travelled fast. By the time she put down her skillets and folded her apron, her plans to give him a quick wink went awry as the royal rascal had flicked off to the flicks.
Then things went a bit Pete Tong. Buckingham Palace initially denied anything happened. Then cop Donald Green admitted he’d lost sight of the wee guy who would rule over us, and it all kicked off.
The officer was sacked by the Metropolitan Police and Charlie Boy had to go back in disgrace to Gordonstoun School – motto: ‘Plus est en vous’, which translates as ‘There is more in you than you think’. Ooh, he may have had a few that night then.
Just like a few were taken when the Prince visited Stornoway again 30 years later in March 1993. Here’s the exclusive.
There was another wee disaster involving the prince and alcohol on that occasion. It was the official opening of the Grampian TV studios on Seaforth Road. My invitation must have got lost in the post but I have been speaking to people who were there.
A jovial fellow called Alex Ramsay was Grampian’s head of engineering at the time. I’d met Alex before that, coincidentally in the Prince of Wales Lounge in the Crown Hotel.
After the initial handshakes, the prince hung around for the plonk and prawns. Why not? After all, it’s not as if he was driving. He soon got into conversation with Alex and other staff.
He was probably regaling them with tales of when he lived incognito on Berneray with Donald Alick, known as Splash, and Gloria McKillop in 1987. Then he listened intently while they told him some ripping yarns.
Alex Ramsay’s interaction with a young King Charles
Alex Ramsay was one of these people who spoke with his hands, flailing about expressively. The next thing he knew he had swung his arm around, with a glass of rosso in his hand, and – splash – the contents showered the man who is king.
The caret was over his smart Harris Tweed jacket, all the way down to his, er, sporran.
Consternation all around. The prince was, however, quite unconcerned. Like water off a duck’s back, the red wine was patted off his jacket and kilt by himself with his own handkerchief and he moved swiftly on to the next topic of conversation. Alex was truly mortified.
Afterwards, he joked to the young technical types, who I may have been talking to, that he would probably be thrown in the Tower of London.
Poor Alex Ramsay. He is no longer with us but I’m sure he dined out on that one for years after.
Before the founders dine out on this newly promised political party, they will have to be careful. They can hope for better things but should they promise them?
They tend to come back and bite politicians somewhere tender. Boris Johnson once promised to lie in front of bulldozers clearing a path for the third Heathrow runway.
Still, that was going to be no problem for him as he had already had plenty of practice lying in front of a bus.
Iain Maciver is a former broadcaster and news reporter from the Outer Hebrides
Conversation