The Prince of Wales found a warm welcome during his visit to regions of South Wales hit by Storm Dennis. In Pontypridd HRH viewed and heard about the devastation caused by flooding to businesses and homes in the town, writes Jonathan Taylor. Some eighty shops were flooded in the town centre alone and early estimates are that over one thousand properties – both residential and commercial – have been affected in the Rhondda Cynon Taf area as a whole. Charles spoke to Emma Jamal, 40, the owner of KooKoo Madame, a boutique shop that had been inundated with four feet of water. Mrs Jamal, who has owned the shop for 12 years, said it had been “completely devastated. Literally every piece of furniture, every piece of stock, has gone in the skip. Hundreds of thousands of pounds. It’s gone. It has taken us years and years to build up the stock”. . .
Indeed, the recent storms and consequent floods do seem to mark a turning point in the discussion over climate change, which is increasingly referred to as the climate emergency. For Charles it is a vindication of the views he has held throughout his life, one even more deeply felt given the ridicule he has often faced when raising environmental concerns. If the issues at hand are undeniably grave ones, the symbolism of the moment came together fortuitously. Storm Dennis’ arrival in the month of February 2020 was a particularly resonant moment, with the Pontypridd visit coinciding almost precisely with the fiftieth anniversary of HRH’s first environmental speech on February 19, 1970. (Read the full article in Royalty Magazine Volume 27/05)
