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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Katy Stoddard

Guardian Diary, 1980: Prince Charles installs 'strange machines' at the palace

The Guardian mocked Prince Charles when he installed a bottle bank at Buckingham Palace in 1980.
The Guardian mocked Prince Charles when he installed a bottle bank at Buckingham Palace in 1980. Photograph: Evening Standard/Getty Images

In a speech to the University of Cambridge’s Institute for Sustainability Leadership at St Jame’s Palace, reported elsewhere, Prince Charles recalled “the Guardian newspaper thinking it was hilarious when I managed to encourage the installation of one of the country’s first bottle banks – which they described as a ‘strange engine’ – at Buckingham Palace 25 years ago.”

He was out by a decade, but the Guardian Diary did indeed find it amusing.

The Guardian, 1 May 1980.
The Guardian, 1 May 1980.
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