PICTURES: King Charles III pays a surprise visit to Tomintoul
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The pipes were playing on the village square as Tomintoul welcomed King Charles III on a Royal visit yesterday.
During his tour the monarch was first shown around the exhibits at the Tomintoul & Glenlivet Discovery Centre.
Amongst the crowd outside was Lynne Bold who was visiting Tomintoul with her husband Ken.
The couple had planned to go to the discovery centre but discovered it was closed for the visit.
Lynne said: "I never expected in the middle of my holiday that I would meet the King, and I never thought that he'd pick me out and have a conversation.
"It's totally made my holiday, but no one will believe me back home. They'll all think I'm making it up."
King Charles III called in at the village store in order to pass on his personal thanks to its owners Cathal and Caroline Breen.
During the pandemic the couple, who are now selling the shop, took it upon themselves to deliver essential items to many homes in the village.
Stefan Devlin was there dressed in his military uniform in the hope that the King would stop and chat – a ploy that worked.
Next week the Tomintoul resident is due to be posted abroad for four months with the RAF.
A chief technician at RAF Lossiemouth, he took the opportunity to hand over a battle coin bearing the inscription of II Squadron.
Stefan said: "For such a small place Tomintoul has so much going on. Having the king here is just the icing on the cake."
With Stefan was his wife Joanne and her grandma Winifred Higgins, who has fond memories of meeting the King during 1999.
Diane Leather was among a passing group of tourists who persuaded their coach driver to delay their trip to Aviemore so they could see the King.
The Newcastle resident had her nails painted with the Saltire ahead of her holiday and wanted to show them off.
She said: "I'm honestly shaking. He saw my Scottish nails and said they were 'marvellous'.
"My nail technician will be made up – King Charles approved my nails. I'm all giddy now, I think I need to go for a drink."
Earlier in the morning the King had been at the Cabrach where he was shown around the former secret Catholic seminary at Scalan.
The arrival of his entourage in Tomintoul was heralded by the Dufftown and District Pipe Band.
His tour of the village saw him meet a group of young and cheering pupils from the primary school.
The King also showed an interest in the dozen new eco-friendly affordable homes that have been build.
Dominic Smith, a computer software designer from east London, had originally just stopped off in Tomintoul for a coffee.
He said: "After driving the NC500 I thought I'd head over to have a look at this part of Scotland.
"Seeing the King is a real bonus. I had wanted to go to the Coronation in May but the centre of London was crazy busy that day."
Holidaymakers Ina Middelkamp and Ernst de Vries learned of the Royal visit the previous night in The Glenavon Hotel's bar.
Ina said: "We heard while we were sampling whiskies – like you do when you're on vacation in Scotland.
"We have a royal family in the Netherlands, but when you're talking about monarchies the British one is definitely at the top.
"King Charles has to be amongst the most famous people in the world. But I don't envy him his job.
Chloe Stinson, who's aged 19 and lives in Tomintoul, was very excited after she got to shake hands with King Charles.
Smiling, her dad Paul said: "She says she's never going to wash her right hand again."
Another who talked in person with the monarch was Tyler Walford, a pupil at Buckie High School, who's a Lord-Lieutenant's Cadet.
The 17-year-old said: "It was nerve-racking knowing that you were going to meet him, but it was fine. He was very friendly."
