CHURCH members from Abergavenny were among those to attend a garden party at Buckingham Palace celebrating the Prince of Wales' 70th birthday.

The event on Tuesday was also the first appearance by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, since their wedding.

Canon Mark Soady and four other members of St Mary's Priory church were invited to the event as the Prince of Wales has been patron of the church for 18 years.

During that time he he has made three official visits, and recently, a courtyard of the church was renamed after His Royal Highness.

Canon Soady said the event had a "family feel" to it.

He said: "There was a family atmosphere, it felt like a family do.

"Everyone was telling each other stories of the Prince being involved in their charity.

"We had a real speech from the heart from Prince Harry.

"It was lovely to see him and his wife and you could tell the affection they had for each other."

At the event, His Royal Highness, accompanied by the Duchess of Cornwall, met a number of the 6,000 people who were invited from 386 of his patronages and 20 of his military associations.

A number of guests from the police, fire, ambulance, mountain rescue, and RNLI also attended.

The Prince of Wales is also patron or president of more than 420 charities. The oldest patronage being the Bath Preservation Trust, which The Prince has been patron of since 1973.

Canon Soady said it feels like the Prince of Wales views the church and other charities like an "extended family", as Prince Harry said in a speech at the event.

He added: "We certainly feel that at St Mary’s Priory, for the Prince of Wales is not just a figure head patron, as Prince Harry said he gets stuck in to the work of the charity, nudging one along and campaigning for the charity's cause. It was a a real pleasure and honour to be part of the celebrations for a man who has given and still gives 100 per cent to the causes he supports. I am extremely grateful to him for the interest he has taken in St Mary’s Priory."