20 August 1955 | The royal family get involved in a fundraising sale in the grounds of Abergeldie castle, the Scottish home of the Queen Mother. The event was organised by the Queen Mother to raise funds for the local church Crathie Kirk.
Taking place the day before Princess Margaret’s 25th birthday, the event saw huge crowds of people turn up, not deterred by the five shilling admission fee and an extra five shillings for parking. Each member of the family was put to work on different stalls - the Queen was on biscuits, the Duke of Edinburgh traded provisions, Princess Margaret sold household goods, while Prince Charles was on the heather stall and Princess Anne in charge of postcards. A pop-up post office was even installed in the castle grounds so that buyers could send off their postcards, bought from Princess Anne’s stall, franked with ‘Abergeldie Castle, Aberdeen’.
