King and Queen brave summer downpour to honour Kirkcaldy’s war dead

The King and Queen faced torrential downpours as they marked the centenary of a war memorial commemorating a Scottish town’s war dead.

Charles and Camilla sheltered under umbrellas as they left a wreath at the memorial in Kirkcaldy, Fife, as hundreds of spectators watched the poignant service.

Former prime minister Gordon Brown later joined the King at a solo event, while wife Sarah Brown met the Queen when she visited a cancer centre run by Maggie’s – an organisation both women officially support.

Charles’s first task was to unveil a cairn commissioned to mark the 100th anniversary of the Kirkcaldy War Memorial Gardens and designed as a time capsule for future generations.

He chatted to pupils from local Viewforth High School who had helped fill the capsule with school mementos and memory sticks filled with photos, and quipped about the rain: “I keep telling myself it’s a blessing.”

Camilla said: “It’s a bit damp,” adding: “We’ve been used to the heatwave.”

The royal couple, who are spending their official week in Scotland known as Holyrood Week, arrived in Fife as the heavy showers began and met dozens of well-wishers waiting behind barriers.

Holding umbrellas, they shook hands with the public but at one point a lone protester stood a few feet from the King and shouted his apparent opposition to Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip, alleging “weapons that we sell contribute to genocide”.