Prince Charles has come to the rescue of a hotel hunting the missing statue of a Gordon Highlander. The landmark, which stood outside the Loch Kinord Hotel in Dinnet, Royal Deeside in the Cairngorms National Park, vanished about 30 years ago. But the prince never forgot seeing the soldier in full Highlanders' regalia every time he passed as a boy with the royal entourage on the way to Balmoral in Royal Deeside, Cairngorms. Now he has stepped in to help replace the statue after a chance conversation with Cairngorms Park hotel owners Andrew and Jenny Cox. Jenny said: "We met Prince Charles when we were invited to Birkhall for drinks. "He asked about the Gordon Highlander. He wondered where it had disappeared to. "We told him we were looking for it and other people had been asking about it. "It must have vanished in the late 70s or early 80s. Coach parties used to stop at the hotel to have their photos taken beside it." Prince Charles contacted the Gordon Highlanders Museum in Aberdeen, of which he is a patron, after meeting the couple.
Jenny said: "Things happened quickly. A special statue is being made for us." Lieutenant General Sir Peter Graham, of the museum, has told the hotel owners a replica figure will be installed shortly. It is being made by medals expert David Rennie, a former Gordon Highlander. Andrew said: "So many people have asked about the statue, we felt we should try to reinstate it. "The fact Prince Charles took an interest and acted on it so quickly shows the Gordon Highlanders are very important to him."
A wooden replica has been hand-crafted and painted by David Rennie, a former private in the Gordon Highlanders, who is a medals expert and volunteer researcher at the regimental museum. He said the replacement statue was in the form of a Gordon Highlander in a private's full dress uniform of the 1870s. The new Dinnet landmark will be officially unveiled at the Loch Kinord Hotel on Monday.
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