The Prince of Wales traveled to Skenfrith, Monmouthshire, to engage with residents and officials addressing repeated flooding in the region. The village has endured four significant flood events over the past six years, with the most recent occurring last winter when Storm Claudia deposited a month’s rainfall in a single day, causing the River Monnow to overflow its banks.
During his visit, Prince William met with affected residents, including Rod and Helen Wyatt, who shared their experiences of property damage and displacement. The prince acknowledged the growing frequency of extreme weather events, noting that phenomena once considered rare occurrences now appear to happen annually, contradicting traditional flood probability models.
The prince advocated for a watershed-level strategy incorporating multiple interventions. His proposed measures included slowing water runoff through farming and landscaping techniques, expanding tree planting efforts, and implementing enhanced monitoring systems to track deteriorating conditions. He subsequently visited Great Tre-Rhew Farm, where he participated in seed harvesting with volunteers from Stump Up for Trees, a conservation organization established in 2020 with the objective of planting one million native trees across south Wales. The organization collected 35,000 seeds in the previous year and aims to double this figure in the current year.
Prince William also engaged with representatives from the Duchy of Cornwall to discuss long-term partnerships focused on nature recovery and climate-resilient forestry practices. Additionally, he met with Harry Davies, a 25-year-old farmer in Herefordshire, who is undertaking the Duchy’s inaugural regenerative farming initiative on a 900-acre property. The project emphasizes soil health improvement and enhanced farm resilience to extreme weather patterns through better water retention and management.
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