Prince Charles has close links with the regiment and museum

The prince was opening The Gordon Highlanders Museum in Aberdeen.

He said: "On this special 80th birthday of my mama I am most grateful for your kind wishes, which I shall certainly pass on this evening at dinner."

Prince Charles and Prince Harry went on to tour a Prince's Trust project in Glasgow's Govanhill.

He had been visiting Aberdeen as the Gordon Highlanders' last colonel-in-chief. The museum has undergone a major makeover.

Wearing a regimental kilt and tie, the prince raised a laugh from onlookers when he said he still could not tie his regimental tie in the proper way.

He said: "I spent hours and hours this morning tying and un-tying my tie."

Lottery funding

He said he needed "a special tie, sitting permanently on a dummy in the corner".

Prince Charles was shown around the museum, which now contains interactive maps, recreated war bunkers showing footage of life in the trenches, and audio points.

Two years of fundraising resulted in �500,000 being donated by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The �1.2m project fund has enabled the museum to overhaul its main display areas, improve education facilities and employ new staff.

There are also listening posts featuring the memories of veterans, also providing aid to the visually impaired.

Museum curator Sarah Malone said: "We believe there is nothing like this in Scotland."

The Gordon Highlanders, raised in 1794, was the local regiment of the north east of Scotland.