We are delighted to announce that His Royal Highness The Prince Charles, the Duke of Rothesay, has kindly agreed to take on the Patronage of the Swandro-Orkney Coastal Archaeology Trust.
The Trust's Chair Dr Steve Dockrill (Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Bradford) said: 'This is a great honour for us and we are delighted that His Royal Highness has accepted our invitation to become our Patron. The work of the Trust, and in particular our current research excavation investigating both the archaeology and the processes of erosion at the multi-period site at the Knowe of Swandro in Rousay, brings together two of His Royal Highness' interests. The Prince has long campaigned to raise awareness of the dangers of global warming and climate change, and read archaeology and anthropology as a Cambridge undergraduate. We hope that having such a distinguished Patron will raise the profile of the Trust and also make more people aware of the threat to our heritage posed by global warming'.
Dr Julie Bond (Senior Lecturer in Archaeology, University of Bradford and director of the archaeological excavations at Swandro) said ‘We are delighted that His Royal Highness has agreed to be our Patron as we aim to bring notice to the threat to the amazing archaeology of Orkney; this is a real boost to our work and to the many people who support us'.
His Royal Highness (officially known as the Duke of Rothesay when in Scotland) is often associated with architectural campaigning, but was interested in archaeology first, making his own decision to read Archaeology and Anthroplogy at Cambridge in 1966. One of his tutors was the great archaeologist Professor Glyn Daniel, whose autobiography recounts how he took the heir to the throne on a visit to the megaliths of Carnac in Brittany, and the Palaeolithic cave sites of the Dordogne, They were flown there by Prince Phillip, and, although the trip was meant to be secret, were plagued by the press throughout, but they did get to see some spectacular archaeology and dine very well, with lots of good wine! On the way back the Prince stopped off in Jersey to work on the Cambridge excavation at the Palaeolithic cave of La Cotte de St Brelade. His Royal Highness later noted that 'just after I left they started finding the most amazing things, having found absolutely nothing up until then!' Here at Team Swandro we're all really thrilled by having such a distinguished Patron, and hope you all are too!