Prince of Wales donates to help save Malta cathedral
A £2.6m drive to save a beloved Maltese landmark has been helped along by a “generous” donation by the Prince of Wales.
Campaigners are fighting to save St Paul’s Anglican Pro-Cathedral, which is in dire need of restoration, with the tower, the spire and internal and external stonework all harbouring severe problems.
A dedicated group of campaigners have vowed to rescue the historic cathedral - and they have received a helping hand from Prince Charles.
The Prince of Wales has intervened with a donation to help the committee reach their €3m target.
The cathedral has a long association with the Royal Family. The Queen first visited the city with Prince Philip on honeymoon shortly after their marriage in 1947, and the couple returned to live there between 1949 and 1951.
Charles, who was born in 1948, lived on the island as a baby but first visited as an adult in 1968 when he visited the island on holiday while still an undergraduate at Cambridge University.
Prince Philip is also the patron of the Friends of the Cathedral.
The appeal committee said it could not reveal the value of the donation but said it was a “valuable endorsement”.
Martin Scicluna, head of the committee for the fundraising appeal, said: “We were absolutely delighted to receive the donation, because it reinforces the connections this church has had with the Royal Family ever since his parents were here in the 1950s.”
Many Maltese believe the Queen spent the happiest years of her life in the city, he added.
“That certainly is the impression here in Malta. She was an ordinary naval officer’s wife, they were quite newly married and they were free to do what they liked in Malta.
“The Maltese are very good at standing back and letting them get on with it without bowing and scraping.
“There are stories of them going off and bathing at remote beaches in Malta. That was a freedom she would never have again after 1953,” he said.
A spokeswoman for the Prince confirmed that a donation had been made and said it had come from the Prince of Wales’s charitable foundation.
The foundation makes grants from the profits of Duchy Original and Highgrove products and has previously supported causes including Southwark Cathedral, Help for Heroes and the Church of Scotland.
The appeal, which was launched earlier this year, has raised around £450,000 and the committee hopes the first phase of restoration work will begin at the start of next year.
The cathedral was founded in 1839 by dowager Queen Adelaide, wife of King William IV, after she discovered there was no Anglican place of worship on the island.
