William began his final day enjoying the ‘stunning’ desert landscape of a Saudi Arabian nature reserve.
The Prince of Wales could have made litres of lemonade from a giant lemon he was shown as his Saudi Arabian tour came to an end.
William’s historic three-day trip – his first to the Middle East country – was staged against the backdrop of the escalating Jeffrey Epstein scandal, reignited after the release of millions of documents related to the convicted sex offender.
But like the adage “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade”, the prince forged ahead using the monarchy’s soft power to strengthen links with the UK’s key ally in the region and lay the seeds of friendship with Saudi leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The future king saw the huge citrus fruit when he visited AlUla province’s Oasis and Eco-Gardening Farm to meet local farmers using traditional methods to grow fruits like oranges and lemons and crops of barley, wheat, figs and olives.
William, 43, held the wrinkled lemon, the size of a grapefruit that is sweet and can be eaten like an orange, and said: “I’ve never seen that before.”
The prince’s disgraced uncle, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor – forever associated with friend and paedophile Epstein, is coming under greater scrutiny as allegations emerge from the documents published by US authorities.
The on-going scandal escalated after Thames Valley Police said, a few hours after William’s trip ended, it has held discussions with specialists from the Crown Prosecution Service about allegations Andrew shared confidential reports, from his role as the UK’s trade envoy, with Epstein.
Andrew accuser Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide, claimed she was forced to have sex with Andrew on three occasions, including when she was 17 and also during an orgy after being trafficked by financier Epstein. Andrew has vehemently denied the allegations.
The Prince and Princess of Wales attempted to make their position clear on the scandal on Monday when they issued their first public statement about it.
A Kensington Palace spokesperson said they were “deeply concerned by the continued revelations”, and “their thoughts remain focused on the victims”.
William began his final day enjoying the “stunning” desert landscape of a Saudi Arabian nature reserve.
The prince was driven through towering red sandstone canyons and past sand dunes as he learnt about “exciting” conservation plans to reintroduce native animals including the Arabian leopard.
The future king is a long-term campaigner on wildlife conservation, and spent much of Wednesday morning at Sharaan Nature Reserve in AlUla province, a vast 1,540km square area of desert, mountain and former rangeland.
When the prince saw a formation known as the Dancing Rocks, twisted stone towers shaped by wind and erosion, in the Raggasat Valley, he said: “It’s stunning scenery, it really is. I love looking down the valley as well.”
He also spent time visiting the old town of the settlement of Alula, drawing a huge crowd of locals and tourists, and before departing on an RAF jet told the Governor of Madinah, Prince Salman “I’m sure we’ll be back soon”.
