Crowds brave rain to greet royal visitor (From Western Telegraph)

Crowds brave rain to greet royal visitor

A welcome fit for a king awaited Prince Charles in Pembrokeshire on Thursday, with grey skies and drizzle failing to dampen the pleasure of large crowds on his visit to Tenby and Haverfordwest. The Prince called into the county during his four-day Wales summer tour to visit the long-established Tenby Observer and Tenby Museum and Art Gallery, and the newly-opened Pembrokeshire Meat Company Abattoir, Haverfordwest.

And he proved himself to be a clued-up and keen visitor, asking countless questions and showing a great interest in everything he saw - from his photograph on the Tenby Observer's front page to a Welsh Black cattle carcass in the abattoir.

The Prince's helicopter flew in to the Tenby's Clicketts sports ground, from where he was driven to the Tenby Observer in Warren Street, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary.

Crowds lined Warren Street, the seafront by High Street and massed around Castle Square, where the Prince later made a relaxed walkabout on his way to the museum. He joked and chatted with holidaymakers and locals and even got a cheeky kiss from 12-year-old Leila May, of Tenby.

He made a special point of acknowledging children and youth groups, including a party from the Prince's Trust, a smartly turned-out group of cadets and officers from Tenby Sea Cadets and Cubs and Beavers from the 1st Tenby Sea Scout Group.

Children from Tenby Infants Schools waited patiently, hoping to present the Prince with an engraved hip flask, and cadets from Tenby's 1284 Squadron Air Training Corps stood quietly to attention.

A steady drizzle fell, but spirits were high as the Tenby Salvation Army band entertained the waiting masses with rousing Welsh hymns.

The crowds were still out in force as the Prince concluded his visit to the museum with good wishes for its 125th birthday, and he again smiled his way through a walkabout before being driven on to Haverfordwest.

PICTURED: A dream came true for eight-year-old Jacob Weakley, of Kilgetty, when he not only met Prince Charles, but presented him with flowers.

Western Telegraph (WTNO1297H03).