Scrabster hopes its royal connections will continue
Scrabster is proud of its royal links and hopes they continue, harbour trust manager Sandy Mackie has said.
He has fond childhood memories from the 1970s of being at Scrabster to see the Queen return from visiting the Queen Mother at the Castle of Mey.
The port has been a regular stopping-off point for members of the royal family for many years – although Dwarwick pier, further along the coast, was the setting for the first visit to Caithness by the late Elizabeth II in 1955.
Mr Mackie first became trust manager at Scrabster in 2007. He left for a brief spell with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority in 2009 before returning in October 2010.
He pointed out that, with the exception of one year between 1963 and 1996, the royal yacht Britannia made an annual visit to the port.
After the decommissioning of Britannia, and the death of the Queen Mother, the Queen and members of her family made further visits to the county – the last being in August 2010 when the luxury converted ferry Hebridean Princess berthed at Scrabster following a 10-day cruise around the Western Isles.
"In the early 1970s I recall as a very young boy being at Scrabster to watch the Queen return from the Castle of Mey to Scrabster," Mr Mackie said. "We were standing so close to the Queen’s Steps, where Her Majesty and her family would board the launch to return to Britannia, that I could hear the royal family's voices and Prince Edward excitedly asking his mother if he could get on the launch.
"I also remember my father, who was not prone to emotion, excitedly waving at the royal party. That distant memory indicated to me, even at a young age, how the Queen connected with her subjects and the affection they had for her.
"That respect and affection is only too clear at the present sad time."
Mr Mackie added: "Scrabster is proud of its royal links and hopes they continue. Those links are reflected in the names of two of our quays, the Queen Elizabeth Pier and the Jubilee Pier.
"When he was Prince of Wales, King Charles was a regular visitor to Scrabster – including opening the Queen Elizabeth Pier in 2003. His most recent visit was in 2021."