Prince Charles guard collapses during WW2 event on hottest July day in history

The man passed out and fell forwards onto a beach in Hampshire as the Met Office confirmed a record temperature of 36.7C
A soldier has fainted while guarding Prince Charles on the hottest July day in British history.
The man passed out and fell forwards onto a beach in Hampshire as the Met Office confirmed a record temperature of 36.7C....

Millions have been sweating in the heatwave, which has broken the previous July record of 36.5C and nudged close to the all-time British record of 38.5C.

The Prince was paying tribute to Second World War heroes who helped prepare for the D-Day landings when the collapse happened today.

His guard, from the Royal Artillery based at Thorney Island, was tended to by colleagues and medical responders.
Using water to bring him round, they helped the soldier to his feet and led him away under the cover of an umbrella as the crowd clapped.

Charles was attending a service to commemorate the Combined Operations Pilotage Parties (Copp) memorial on Hayling Island seafront, Hampshire.

The heat also took its toll on the four Copp veterans, all in their 90s, whose chairs were moved into the shade of a marquee during the half-hour service.

The Copp wartime military base was set up in 1943 on Hayling Island under the instruction of Lord Mountbatten.

Small teams of sailors and soldiers were trained as frogmen and canoeists for covert beach explorations prior to allied landings on enemy occupied territory across the world.
The Copp servicemen were trained to search selected coastlines to ensure the safe landing of tanks and heavy armoured vehicles on enemy land.

Robin Walton, chairman of the Copp Heroes Memorial Fund, managed to organise the memorial to be made using a slab of stone donated by stonemason Ian Piper.

Mr Walton said: "It's a good stone to represent the Coppists, it is a rugged stone and they did rugged stuff so I think it's brilliant."

Jim Booth was a sub-lieutenant Copp member who marked the D-Day beaches from a submarine and was awarded the French military decoration the Croix de Guerre.

The 93-year-old, from Taunton, Somerset, who laid a wreath beside one placed by the Prince during the ceremony, said: "We are so glad he could come down, although he is our patron he hasn't been able to come down, he does have a full schedule."
The other three Copp veterans who attended the event were 93-year-old electrical mechanic Stanley Pond, Captain Roger Gilbert, 91, and Captain John Ashford, 91.

Following the service, Charles went on an impromptu walkabout to meet some of the hundreds of beach-goers, some in bikinis, who had taken time from enjoying the sun to watch the ceremony.

Patricia Biggins, 62, said: "I said I had lived here for 40 years and he said 'Never, you don't look like it' so I said 'Thank you very much', I'm over the moon."

Earlier the Prince officially opened the Coastguard's new National Maritime Operations Centre in Fareham, which is the first point of contact for 999 calls handling reports ranging from vessels in distress to people trapped at sea and people who have fallen off cliffs.

Sir Alan Massey, chief executive of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, said: "This is a wonderful day for Her Majesty's Coastguard.

"We are greatly honoured that HRH The Prince of Wales, as our Honorary Commodore, today formally opened our National Maritime Operations Centre here in Fareham. This marks a huge step forward in the Coastguard's ability to co-ordinate effective rescues at sea and on our coasts."
Mirror uk‎