HRH THE Prince of Wales was thrilled to join the 'family atmosphere' of the Welsh premiere of a film that was truly locally produced writes ANDY SHERWILL

Prince Charles was greeted by cheers from the 100 strong crowd waiting patiently in the rain outside Abergavenny's Baker Street Cinema, a scene watched by an army of media organisations covering the event.

For around an hour before the prince's arrival members of the Resistance cast and specially invited guests stepped on the red carpet and entered the recently refurbished building.

As his car arrived at the cinema and was greeted by the Lord Lieutenant of Gwent Simon Boyle, a large cheer went up from the waiting crowd who were delighted when the royal visitor broke from the schedule of the evening to chat to members of the public who had been waiting for a couple of hours under their umbrellas in the rain.

After a few minutes of meeting the public the prince was then escorted into the cinema, where he met its owners Peter and Irene Davies. He told the couple that he felt that they were brave to open a cinema in the current economic recession.

Mr Davies responded by saying: "We might be foolish, but only time will tell."

The prince was then presented with a painting featuring one of the landscapes used in the film, by Lucy Faber, aged 11, daughter of Resistance producer Amanda Faber and was then introduced to a line-up of the film's stars that including Welsh BAFTA winner Sharon Morgan, Misfits actor Iwan Rheon and Tom Wlaschia.

Prince Charles then joined the 170 other guests at the premier, which was a benefit in aid of Abergavenny Museum, to watch the film in the main auditorium, sitting next to Abergavenny author Owen Sheers who adapted his own book to create the screenplay.

Resistance tells the story of a group of farmers' wives who wake up in the Olchon Valley in 1944 after D-Day has failed to find that all their husbands have disappeared and realised that Britain is under Nazi occupation.

Mr Sheers told the prince that it was his ambition to have the premiere in the town where most of the film was made and was delighted that the opening of the Baker Street cinema had made his dream possible,

The prince also told the personalities in the formal line up that he enjoyed attending these sorts of occasions as they had a "relaxed family atmosphere" about them.

As he left the screening, Prince Charles was greeted by another large cheer from the waiting crowd as he left the cinema and was ushered away to Abergavenny train station at the end of his busy day touring Monmouthshire.