A GALAXY of celebrities have gathered as Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla threw a party to celebrate saving a stately Scots home.
The bash marked ten years since he saved the 2000-acre Dumfries House and its priceless Chippendale furniture from oblivion.
The guest list included the Irish President Michael Higgins, singer Aled Jones, model and pianist Myleene Klass, gardener Alan Titchmarsh, and TV newsmen John Suchet, Bill Turnbull and Nicholas Owen.
The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall also attended a recital celebrating 25 years of Classic FM broadcast live from the stately home.
For ten years, Dumfries House has been run as a tourist attraction and community centre, but the Prince has also used it to promote some of his utopian ideas, such as championing traditional crafts.
The Prince’s Charities Foundation rescued Dumfries House in 2007 when the 7th Marquess of Bute put the mansion on the market for £45 million.
The Prince had to borrow £20 million against his charities to save it.
Doom-mongers warned the ‘vanity project’ was the most ‘reckless gamble of his life’ but the estate now welcomes 25,000 visitors a year.
The radio recital, broadcast on the eve of the radio station’s 25th birthday, began with a special performance from Aled Jones, who performed a track duetting with the voice of his younger self.
He was then joined by fellow Classic FM presenter Myleene Klass on the harp for a traditional Welsh folk song.
Folksinger Josie Duncan performed two melodies while the evening included performances of Bach’s Cello Suite No 1 and Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No 1 featuring student musicians from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, of which Charles is patron.
Pianist Ji Liu played music by Chopin and Liszt while the final performance was the world premiere of Twilight Falls on Temple View by Welsh composer Paul Mealor, written about Dumfries House especially for the celebration.
Earlier, the President of Ireland joined the prince in celebrating the tenth anniversary at the property.
Michael D Higgins and the First Lady were greeted by the prince on the steps of the stately home in Cumnock, East Ayrshire on Wednesday.
On entering the venue, the president and Mrs Sabina Higgins were shown the Grand Orrery, a mechanical model of the solar system built around 1758. It does not include Neptune, Uranus or Pluto, as they had not yet been discovered.
Mrs Higgins spoke with Charles about how she and the president had seen a similar model in Florence, Italy.
During their visit, the guests heard about the significance of building on the talents of young people from under-privileged backgrounds as part of the Dumfries House project.
The prince made the invitation to the president in May, when Mr Higgins hosted the royal couple for meetings at his official residence in Dublin.
Charles, who is known as the Duke of Rothesay in Scotland, helped arrange a £45 million deal to buy the house and its collection of Chippendale furniture to secure its future.
He led a consortium of charities and the Scottish Government to make the purchase in 2007, with his own Prince’s Charities Foundation contributing £20 million.
It had previously been in private hands, becoming rundown as owners struggled with upkeep costs.
The house opened to the public in the summer of 2008 following intensive restoration work.
Each year about 24,000 people visit the 2000-acre estate, which employs about 150 staff and provides a series of amenities to the local community.
These include skills training, educational programmes, woodland walkways, a playground and an outdoor swimming pool.
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