THE REPAIR SHOP IS GIVEN THE ROYAL SEAL OF APPROVAL

SHARES HIS LOVE OF CLOCKS AND TRADITIONAL SKILLS DURING A SPECIAL APPEARANCE ON THE POPULAR TV SHOW

- FRAN WINSTON

On a visit to Dumfries last autumn, The Repair Shop team took up a very special invitation - to meet the then O Prince of Wales. Just months before Charles' accession to the throne, experts from the much-loved TV show joined His Majesty and some of the students on The Prince's Foundation's Building Craft Programme - a training initiative that teaches traditional skills such as blacksmithing, stonemasonry and wood carving.

The special episode, which aired last Wednesday, gave us an insight into his family life, including the Queen Mother's love of clocks. And Charles revealed that he shares his late grandmother's passion.

"To me, I just love the sound, the ticktock but also if they chime - that's why I love grandfather clocks," he said.

"I find it rather reassuring in a funny way and they become really special parts of the house... the beating heart of it. So that's why they matter to me." He added, "I'm afraid it is something I learnt from my grandmother. She had great fun putting a few together and trying to get them to chime at the same time in the dining room, which made it very enjoyable because everybody had to stop talking.

He was speaking as he showed off an 18th-century bracket clock that he asked the team to restore. It is part of the collection at his foundation's Dumfries House headquarters.