Prince William visits flood-hit Skenfrith and farms in Wales and Herefordshire

The Prince of Wales visited the Welsh village of Skenfrith in Monmouthshire on Thursday 1 October 2026 to learn about its flood defences and how communities have been affected by recent flooding. 1 2 Residents Rod and Helen Wyatt reminded him that he had once sold them a CD from a bric-a-brac stall at the Glanusk Estate; William laughed, said "Dodgy car boot sale, yes, I remember that", and joked that perhaps he should reopen the business. 1 2 The Mirror added that Glanusk Estate near Crickhowell is the family home of William's former nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke, now known as Alexandra Pettifer, and the venue of the Green Man Festival. 2

Skenfrith has had four major floods in six years; the most recent, last winter, was the biggest, when the River Monnow swept through the village after Storm Claudia brought a month's rain in 24 hours to parts of England and Wales. 1 2 William told residents that "one in 50-year" labels no longer made sense because such floods seemed to happen every year, and said a more "holistic" view of the whole catchment was needed; Metro reports he listed ideas including slowing the water with farming and landscaping measures, tree planting and better monitoring. 1 2 At Great Tre-Rhew Farm in Monmouthshire he met the charity Stump Up for Trees, which aims to plant one million native trees across south Wales and the Bannau Brycheiniog; he helped harvest seeds from a field maple and planted a sessile oak, the national tree of Wales. 1 2

The Mirror says he climbed a barbed wire fence to reach the trees, joking that he did not want to rip his trousers; Metro says charity director Jenny Knight praised him for looking at solutions as well as problems, and that Duchy of Cornwall representatives joined to begin a long-term partnership on nature recovery. 2 1 He ended the day at Monkhall Farm in Herefordshire, meeting 25-year-old Harry Davies, incoming tenant of the Duchy of Cornwall's first regenerative farm business tenancy; the Mirror adds that William drove a tractor sowing winter wheat using satellite navigation. 1 2