Royal cake goes down a treat

Snow scene featured Castle of Mey and Q.M,

FEW if any youngsters in the country can boast an extra-special Christmas ‘pressie’ from royalty and certainly not every year.
But, despite being an annual occurrence, the magnificent cake gifted by Prince Charles, never fails to generate some early festive excitement amongst the pupils of Crossroads Primary, the most northerly school on the British mainland.
The unique tradition actually goes all the way back to the 1950s after the Prince’s grandmother, the Queen Mother, bought Barrogill Castle as her Highland home and renamed it the Castle of Mey.
Each year, she gifted a cake to the pupils of the village school and when it closed in 1969 and the youngsters were transferred to Crossroads School, some four miles away, Her Majesty had it baked bigger, so that all of the kids on the increased roll would get a piece.
On one occasion, the cake got badly damaged in transit from Clarence House, in London, but the kindly Queen Mother immediately had a replacement baked at her Castle, so that the children wouldn’t be disappointed.
When Her Majesty passed away in 2002, Prince Charles stepped in to continue the long-standing tradition.
As always, this year’s gift got an enthusiastic reception from the kids. The foot-square cake, had a particularly poignant touch this year. The snow scene featured, for the very first time, an icing model of the Queen Mother sitting on a bench in front of her beloved castle with one of her corgis.
A member of the school’s staff said that the annual present had never lost its magic and had been eagerly awaited by the roll of 32 children.
They all went home for their Christmas break, yesterday, clutching a piece of the cake.