Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall stroll around ruins in Jordan’s ancient city of Gadara

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After a busy first day of their official mini tour of the Middle East – including a lavish dinner at Al Husseiniya Palace in Amman yesterday evening, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall arrived in Umm Qais, the site of the ancient city of Gadara, on Wednesday morning.   

The second day of their visit, delayed by almost two years due to the Covid pandemic, saw the couple turn tourists as they made the 75-mile hop north of the Jordanian capital to the town of Umm Qais – where Jesus was said to have performed one of his seven miracles.

The Prince, who turned 73 on Sunday, and Camilla, 74, were accompanied on the early morning walking tour by Jordanian Princess Dana Firas, 51, a global advocate for the ancient religious site’s ongoing preservation – alongside a significant additional entourage. 

As the group wandered the main dusty avenue through the archaeological ruins, which date back to the 3rd century, BC Charles and Camilla learned about the site’s rich tapestry of history including Hellenic, Roman, Byzantine and Early Muslim influences. 

The royals planted a tree to mark the UK’s strong relationship with the Middle Eastern country, and Charles took time to chat to Slovakian tourists about meeting their president at this month’s Cop26 summit in Glasgow.

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When also asked by Jordan’s Princess Dana about his attendance at the UN climate conference, the royal told her it was ‘amazing’, saying it had produced ‘quite a lot of success’.  

Keeping cool in the desert sun, the Prince of Wales opted for a light, camel-hued suit with a striped tie and white checked shirt and a comfy-looking pair of beige shoes, while Camilla wore a sage-coloured Fiona Clare floral dress – with low-heeled court shoes in caramel.

The couple posed briefly for photos on the Main Street, with the colonnades and ancient ruins behind to highlight the rich tourism in the region. 

During the walkabout, Charles also stopped to plant a tree to symbolise the UK-Jordanian partnership and in celebration of the centenary anniversary for the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. 

The ancient site, now known as Umm Qais, appears in the bible as Gadara and remains one of Jordan’s biggest tourist attractions. 

The couple took in views of the Jordan Valley and the Sea of Galilee, posing for photos at the hilltop settlement’s highest point. Some of the region’s most beautiful scenery, including the Syrian Golan Heights, Mount Hermon, Lake Tiberias and the north Palestinian plains could also be seen from the vantage point.  

The city is said to be the place where Jesus carried out the ‘miracle of the Gadarene swine’ – freeing a man ‘possessed by the devil’ by casting his demons into pigs, according to the apostle Mark.

The royals showed off their fitness too, appearing to negotiate the steep stone steps at the site’s amphitheatre with apparent ease, with Camilla leading the way. 

Charles was heard saying: ‘It’s very hot’ as he clambered up the flight of ancient steps.

They also took in the work carried out by Turquoise Mountain, founded by Charles in 2006, and the Newton-Khalidi Fund which raises money to revive historic craftsman’s skills.

‘Are you having fun rebuilding it?’ he asked a group of workmen busy putting together a Roman mosaic.

In its time Umm Qais has been as a cultural centre and has been the of several classical poets and philosophers, including Theodorus, founder of a rhetorical school in Rome, and was once called ‘a new Athens’. 

On the trade route between Syria and Palestine, Gadara was a popular holiday resort for Romans.

The West Theatre, located along the main Roman Street, resembles a Colosseum and had the capacity to seat three thousand spectators.

As they arrived Charles made a detour after bumping into a group of delighted tourists from Slovakia.

He said to them: ‘I saw your President (Zuzana Caputova) in Glasgow. We had a very enjoyable conversation.

‘I have happy memories of bring there years ago and she said I must come back. I hope you are enjoying all of this.’

Lenka Kodajova, 39, tour guide at Baloo, said: ‘It has really made our trip. It was wonderful to see them’. 

It was then back to the capital, with Camilla spending some time at the Princess Taghreed Secondary Girls School.

 The royal has been vocal about her interest in issues facing women and young girls in the Middle East and spent time chatting to both students and teachers at the school. 

The British royals have received a warm welcome so far in the Middle Eastern country, which is seen as a strong ally for the Government; the couple will head to Egypt later in the week.

The start of the trip saw Charles and Camilla rattle through a packed schedule on their first official day in Jordan including visiting the spectacular Al Husseiniya Palace in Amman, where they were hosted by King Abdullah II and Queen Rania.

On Tuesday afternoon, they flew by helicopter to one of the most important religious sites in Jordan and were given the great honour of walking down to the riverbed where it is believed Jesus Christ was baptised. 

And last night, Charles and Camilla were back at Al Husseiniya Palace, this time in their finery, to attend a private  banquet hosted by the Jordanian king and queen.

The couple’s Tuesday afternoon helicopter visit to the UNESCO world heritage site, situated in the Jordan Valley, north of the Dead Sea and on the border with Israel, saw them spending time at a site that welcomes pilgrims from across the world and has been authenticated by all major Christian Church leaders as one of the three holiest sites of Christianity, along with Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

During their visit, the prince and his wife walked gingerly down some well-worn steps and a steep, pebbly path to the water, where they stood for a few moments in quiet reflection. 

Then they bent down and each dipped their fingers in, Charles first followed by Camilla, before walking carefully back up the path to sign a visitor’s book.

It’s thought that the heir-to-the-throne took ‘five or six dozen bottles’ of Holy water taken from the River Jordan back to the UK for royal baptisms – which could include that of Lilibet, the grand-daughter he has never met. 

On their arrival earlier, the couple also stopped at nearby Elijah’s Hill, where John the Baptist is said to have lived for about 20 years in a cave, and where Jesus is believed to have visited him. From the ruins, the couple could see Jericho and Jerusalem stretching out into the distance.

Elijah’s Hill is believed to be where Elijah ascended to heaven in the 9th century BC, with views of the wilderness stretching out across to the River Jordan.

The Bible states that Elijah would return before the coming of Jesus, so when John the Baptist began baptising people there it caused a huge stir in the surrounding villages.

They were met by HRH Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad, the King’s Senior Adviser for Religious and Cultural Affairs, who has taken a great interest in the project, and The Director General of the Baptism Site, Rustom Mkhjian.

The Jordanian people have taken great pride in the careful excavation of the area, leaving much of the site as it would have been in the time of Christ.

The royal visitors were given a guided tour of the area and were even offered the opportunity to sit in John the Baptist’s cave for a few moments quietly together.

The prince seemed particularly moved to be visiting a site, where so many famed prophets and pilgrims are said to have passed through.

Pre-Covid-19, it welcomed more than 200,000 visitors per year and the expectation is that this number will again be reached over the next one-two years.

They were then taken down to the Baptism site by golf buggy, before travelling back up on the same electric vehicles and flying back to the capital Amman for a glamorous royal dinner.

Speaking afterwards Mr Mkhjian said of the visit: ‘It was great. Their Royal Highness were asking so many questions. 

‘We have discovered so much more than when the prince last visited and he was ever so pleased to see how we have preserved this. My last words to him were ‘Your Royal Highness, welcome to the lowest site discovered on earth that is closest to heaven’.

‘I was so excited to be able to show him the importance of the site but also explain that we have preserved it the way Jesus and John did.

‘One of the last visitors to be allowed down to the Baptism site was his Holiness Pope Francis. It is a great honour.

‘The significance to them touching is that they are actually touching a water table described by pilgrims in the 6th Century, worn down by hundreds of thousands of feet over the centuries.’

After their moment at the Baptism site, the prince took part in an interfaith meeting about religious tolerance and the environment.

He told them: ‘You are the people, who are the leaders of your communities, you are the people to remind your flocks of living in harmony with nature. There is hope. There are ways wed can change.

‘I pray with all my heart that the Churches and Faiths will lead the way with those in private enterprise and the public sectors

‘Now is the time to translate people’s awareness into real action on the ground.’

He told them that the different Faiths needed to do for the environment what they had done for interfaith relations.

In return the religious gathered asked him to convey their prayers to the Queen.