Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
National
Laura Pollock

King to host birthday party for Scots turning 75 like him at grand Ayrshire estate

PEOPLE turning 75 in the same year as the King are being given the chance to attend special birthday parties at Dumfries House.

Charles reaches the age on November 14 and the monarch’s charity is hosting celebrations on the eve of his big day.

Online nominations for guests born in 1948, like the King, opened on Monday and people are being urged to put forward locals who have made a difference to their communities or who would benefit from the companionship.

Organisations celebrating their 75th anniversary – which includes the NHS this year – can also apply.

The free events on November 13 are understood to feature live music, afternoon tea, dancing and the opportunity to socialise.

Organisers said these are inspired by the foundation’s health and wellbeing programme, which stages monthly tea dances at Dumfries House (below) in East Ayrshire.

A spokesperson for The Prince’s Foundation said: “We wanted to do something special to mark the occasion of His Majesty The King’s 75th birthday.

“As part of our charity’s role is to serve its communities, we thought it would be fitting to invite a select number of people who are also turning 75 this year to our beautiful sites for a celebratory afternoon.”

The nomination forms can be found here and will close at 5pm on October 13. Guests will also be given a plus one invitation.

The event at Dumfries House near Cumnock will welcome those from Ayrshire and Arran, Dumfries and Galloway, and Glasgow and Clyde Valley, while an event at Highgrove is for guests from Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Somerset.

Highgrove near Tetbury in Gloucestershire is the King’s country retreat which he acquired in 1980.

At the start of the year, Highgrove ran the foundation’s Winter Warmers project where hundreds of people from the local community enjoyed free hot drinks and soup, craft, board games and knitting in the Orchard Room to help combat loneliness and the cost-of-living crisis.

In 2007, Charles, then the prince of Wales, led a consortium which paid £45 million for Dumfries House in a bid to save the then-dilapidated 18th-century stately home from ruin and help regenerate the deprived local community.

It is hoped the King might be able to attend one of the birthday parties.

Prince Charles Philip Arthur George was born on November 14, 1948 at Buckingham Palace.

The King, who was crowned in May, was the oldest British monarch in history at a coronation.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.