Jumbo fit for a prince: The £240million private jet

• Billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal al-Saud ordered the customised Airbus A380 three years ago
• He already owns a customised 747, an Airbus 231 and a luxury yacht featured in a James Bond film
• Jet will boast luxury suites as well as a prayer room with electronic mats which automatically turn towards mecca 

When you have £16billion in the bank, a Cessna is simply not an option.

Instead, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal al-Saud is about to take delivery of an Airbus A380, the world’s biggest private jet. 

The same model is used by Singapore Airlines and Emirates and can fly 800 passengers 8,000 miles before refuelling. But the Saudi prince doesn’t need 800 seats, so he will have them removed to make room for an opulent, marble-finished Turkish bath and a parking space for his Rolls-Royce.

Flying palace: An artist's impression of what the £300million customised Superjumbo will look like and a few of the luxuries on board

The plane will even boast a dedicated prayer area, in which computer-generated mats move to point towards Mecca.

The Western-educated prince, 57, is known as the Warren Buffett of the Middle East because of his reputation as a shrewd investor. He also owns 7 per cent of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.

The new airliner joins Prince Alwaleed’s stable of private jets, including a modified Boeing 747 and an Airbus 321. He is also the proud owner of a 280ft superyacht, 5KR, formerly owned by Donald Trump, which featured in the Bond film, Never Say Never Again.

Business class: The plane's boardroom features a table which functions as a giant touchscreen and (right) a white spiral staircase winds around the lift which travels three floors and also drops onto the tarmac to act as the prince's private entrance

The new jet, which has already been labelled the Flying Palace, will boast:

• A dazzling main spiral staircase as well as a lift which will travel the plane's three floors and lower onto the tarmac to act as the Prince's private entrance
• A Concert Hall featuring a grand piano, accoustic panelling and seating for an audience of ten. Big name entertainers are expected to perform.
• A Hamam steam room lined with marble only two millimetres thick to keep the weight down as well as a sensory area for treatments
• A magnificent Wellbeing room for guests featuring a giant screen on the floor allowing them to see what they are flying over
• A full size boardroom featuring a large perspex table which doubles as a huge touchscreen
• A total of five luxury suites as well as a prayer room with electronic mats which automatically turn to face mecca  
• Ample parking space for a Rolls Royce   

 

Night flight: The opulent jet will boast no fewer than four luxury suites as well as a prayer room with electronic mats that automatically turn to face mecca while (right) the stunning Wellbeing room for guests will feature a giant screen on the floor allowing them to see what they are flying over

Giant of the skies: The Airbus A380 is the world's largest airliner and has been designed to carry over 600 passengers. The basic cost is £135 million but Prince Alwaleed's plane is expected to top £300million 

Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is the region's wealthiest man

Airbus will deliver the extravagant toy to the prince in the New Year, a spokesman confirmed.
The prince is the first person to buy one of the luxury jumbos, estimated to have cost £240million. 


The spokesman said: ‘This is the most up-to-date model you can get and the largest civil aircraft ever. It’s huge – half again as big as a 747.’ 


The Airbus will be delivered to the prince ‘green’ – a basic shell ready to be furnished to the client’s desires. 

Design Q, the company working on the interior, says the A380 is ‘not only the most luxurious aircraft in existence, but also reflects the cultural values and status of its owner’. 

The plane boasts the equivalent of three tennis courts’ worth of floor space, while the lowest cargo deck also has ample parking room. 

A grand white spiral staircase will greet guests in the entrance hall. 


On arrival a lift drops to the runway and a red carpet unfurls, with downlights to ‘give the impression of turning up at the Oscars’, according to Design Q.

The belly of the A380 has been turned into a relaxation zone, including a Turkish bath lined with marble only 2mm thick to keep the weight down.

Next door is a wellbeing room, with the floor and walls turned into a giant screen showing the ground below. 

Guests can stand on a ‘magic carpet’ and watch the journey, a scented breeze blowing into the room.

There are also about 20 ‘sleepers’ – the equivalent of First Class seats – a boardroom and a concert hall.

As the largest stakeholder in News Corp outside the Murdoch Family, Prince Alalweed was interviewed on the deck of his yacht in Cannes by the BBC following the phone tapping scandal.

Looking relaxed in a pair of shorts and sunglasses he famously declared that News Corp's then chief executive Rebekah Brooks 'has to go', which many believe effectively ended Brooks's career at the company.

A spokesman for Design Q, the Worcestershire-based company who will be carrying out the customisation of the plane, told the Independent the plane would be 'not only the most luxurious aircraft in existence, but also reflects the cultural values and status of its owner.'

Mayan doomsday

  - 12 ways the world could end tomorrow

Friday ... end of the world?

THE Apocalypse could be just a day away – and a Sun investigation can now reveal the top 12 end-of-the world scenarios.

The ancient Mayan civilisation’s 5,125-year-old Long Count calendar ends on Friday December 21 – and doom mongers across the world are predicting global oblivion. 

It is not known exactly how the Doomsday will come about but experts have speculated that a deadly alien invasion, catastrophic meteorite collision and even the Large Hadron Collider – just over the English Channel could destroy the Earth as we know it. 

Here Alice Everley explores the 12 chilling ways we could perish. 

Are we doomed? ... Chitchen Itza in Yucatan penisula of Mexico, once home to the ancient Mayan civilisations

 

1 METEORITE COLLISION 
 
ASTEROID expert Austen Atkinson says the chances of a serious meteorite strike on Earth are very small but the consequences would be catastrophic. Asteroids near Earth travel at between 20 and 30 kilometres per second, making them both hard to intercept and hard to see. If a 500-metre wide asteroid hits the water, a tsunami several miles in height could wipe out all humanity.
2 FLU PANDEMIC 
 
DEADLY flu pandemics happen irregularly but are very dangerous and destructive. The most serious pandemic in recent history was the ruthless and deadly 1918 Spanish flu. It spread all the way to the Arctic and remote Pacific islands, claiming the lives of as many as 50MILLION people. Scientists believe that the next pandemic is not a matter of if but when. 

3 MASS RADIATION EXPLOSION FROM THE SUN 
 
THE sun releases huge amounts of matter and radiation, releasing bursts of solar wind and magnetic fields into space. Those particles cause strong aurorae that we know as Northern Lights in the North Pole and Southern Lights in Antarctica. But intense cosmic rays from a mega-powerful ejection could cause anything from massive long-lasting power outages to fatal exposure to humans by blowing a massive hole in the Ozone layer. 

Sun matter ... Northern Lights

 

4 RELIGIOUS APOCALYPSE 
 
MOST religions predict some variation of a Judgement Day. In Christianity it will supposedly happen after the resurrection of the dead and the second coming of Jesus Christ. In Islam, Yawm ad-Din is believed to be God’s final assessment of humanity, going hand-in-hand with annihilation of all creatures, resurrection of the body and the judgement of all. The exact timescale of the predicted apocalypse is unknown. 

5 SUPERVOLCANO 
 
A SUPERVOLCANO is capable of producing an eruption of a scale thousands of times larger than a normal volcano. Continental hotspots conceal huge flat-lying invisible supervolcanoes, where a massive magma pool would be growing underground and could explode. The famous active Yellowstone supervolcano in Idaho is 50 miles across and could cause destruction over a 1,000-mile plus radius - causing potential extinction. 

Sleeping monster ... supervolcano

 

6 CATACLYSMIC POLE SHIFT 
 
SCIENTISTS suggest the Earth had experienced shifts in relative positions of the modern-day geographic locations of the poles. If the poles shifted rapidly, it could lead to cataclysmic events, such as devastating floods and tectonic plate shifts associated with earthquakes and volcano eruptions. 

7 ALIEN INVASION 
 
EXTRA-TERRESTRIALS invading our planet have been a constant fear over the last century. Believers suggest aliens have been living among us for a long time, infiltrating the world’s population by pretending to be human. On December 21st doom mongers say we could expect anything from an alien invasion - wiping out mankind or extra-terrestrials depleting the planet’s resources and destroying the Earth. 

Invasion ... aliens

 

8 NUCLEAR WAR/WW3 
 
THE Cold War is over, but the threat is still very real – think North Korea’s long-range rocket launched just this week heightening international tensions and fears the rogue state could be building up to a nuclear capability.

9 ICE AGE 
 
GRADUAL climate change in the shape of global warming is well-known but an abrupt climate change is a distinct possibility, some scientists say. Global warming may reduce the warm winds blowing from the tropics – causing a big imbalance in temperatures within the Northern hemisphere with the environmental consequences unknown and potentially fatal. 

Chilling ... Ice Age

 

10 RISE OF THE MACHINES 
 
SUPER artificial intelligence with the view to a kill could be hiding among us waiting to strike, some conspiracy theorists have suggested. The chances of a big plot attempting to conceal such technological progress from humans are slim. But let’s face it, if they are capable of taking over the world on December 21st, they wouldn’t be reckless enough for us to notice before they’re all set, would they? 

11 TIME TRAVEL ERROR 
 
TIME travel geeks believe someone from the future could have ventured into our past and caused a conflict in the time-space continuum. This, they argue, could be how the Mayans got their mysterious calendar in the first place. The Mayan time-traveller could then have zipped back in time and warned the ancients all about the apocalypse.

12 LARGE HADRON COLLIDER (LHC) 
 
SCIENTISTS from 60 countries have been working 250ft underground on the project trying to recreate conditions after the Big Bang 14billion years ago. Some still fear there is a chance the powerful machine could generate mini black holes which could grow and instantly swallow our planet. They even tried to get the European Court of Human Rights to stop the tests.

Messi’s on the market... at, er, £312MILLION!

LOLLY GOSH ... Messi is making serious bucks

LIONEL MESSI would now cost Manchester City or Chelsea a mind-blowing £312MILLION.

The world’s best player has agreed a new six-year deal with Barcelona worth an estimated £17m a year gross until 2018. 

That totals an amazing £102m in wages. Add in his £210m get-out clause and the total package is £312m.
And that is only if the man many already acclaim as the greatest footballer of all time accepts to move to Manchester City or Chelsea WITHOUT a pay rise. 

Realistically, though, the chance of Messi, 25, ever coming to an English club appears to be zero. 

Midfield maestro Xavi, 32, and inspirational skipper Carles Puyol, 34, have also both agreed new deals. 

Barca director Toni Freixa said: “Puyol, Messi and Xavi are three basic pillars. It was absolutely necessary to have our principal pieces tied to the club. 

“It’s a great satisfaction for the board to give continuity to our project with these new deals.”
Messi was earning around £10m a year gross in his last contract, plus an extra 30 per cent which was performance-related. 

But his new deal will cost Barcelona a lot more because of new tax laws in Spain. 

Instead of 24 per cent tax, the Catalans will now pay up to 52 per cent on Messi’s salary — which means they will have to shell out a huge amount more in order to give him even a modest net pay rise. 

Barca remained tight-lipped about the terms of the deal last night. Talks were not straightforward as they have lasted the best part of four months. 

But Barca president Sandro Rosell was desperate not to be the man who messed up Messi. 

The Argentina hero has already spent 12 years at the club after joining as a precocious kid. 

This is the sixth time he has renewed his contract, signing a two-year extension to his previous deal which ran until 2016. 

Messi has scored a record-breaking 90 goals for club and country in 2012. He also set a new La Liga record last season with 50 goals. 

Despite the loss of celebrated chief Pep Guardiola, Barcelona are enjoying the best start ever in La Liga under new boss Tito Vilanova — they have won 15 games out of 16 and sit nine points clear of second-placed Atletico Madrid.

Four days to go until the Mayan Doomsday

If you’re seriously concerned about the world ending on Friday, then this could be just the ticket.

Ron Hubbard has built a luxurious underground bomb-proof shelter in Montebello, California, with a leather sofa, plasma TV and wooden flooring - just in case the Mayans’ predictions come true.

The civilisation’s Long Count calendar which began 5,125 years ago in 3113 B.C. ends on December 21, 2012 - sparking fears among a small group of people that a major catastrophe could happen.

Bomb-proof: Children test out the bunk beds in the underground survival shelter in Montebello, California

Going underground: The luxurious bomb, nuclear and chemical weapon-proof bunkers are kitted out with beds, kitchens, flushing toilets and even fireplaces - and sell for an average price of £46,000 based on fittings

Handle: A young girl stands in the bunker, which has a leather sofa, plasma TV and wooden flooring

Mr Hubbard manufactures hi-tech underground ‘recreational bomb shelters’ - and has seen his business boom from selling one a month to one a day in the past year.

THE END - OR A NEW CALENDAR?

Inscriptions in Mexico refer to Bolon Yokte - a god associated with war and the underworld - 'descending from the sky' at the end of a 13th period of 400 years on December 21 2012.

But many Mayan experts believe the ‘apocalypse’ concept is a false interpretation of their 5,125-year Long Count cycle as Friday simply marks the start of a new calendar.

The luxurious bomb, nuclear and chemical weapon-proof bunkers are kitted out with beds, kitchens, flushing toilets and even fireplaces - and sell for an average price of £46,000.

Mr Hubbard revealed that he is currently rushing the instalment of two shelters - one in New York and another in Indiana - in time for the potential Doomsday anticipated by some people this Friday.

He said: ‘I will be heading into my shelter on December 21 just because I have one and if any of the astrophysicists are right, I would feel really stupid.

Tidy: The 500 sq ft cylindrical shelters - produced in California - each measure 10ft in diameter and 50ft long

Home comforts: A bed is prepared in the shelter with the Chile flag on the pillows and duvet cover

Practical: The bunkers have escape tunnels with one sided hatches which can only open from the inside, as well as sealed contamination rooms between the entrance and living areas

‘I've sold shelters to astrophysicists who believe there is a possibility that we could be hit with a strong solar flare or large amounts of radiation. 

'I will be heading into my shelter on December 21 just because I have one and if any of the astrophysicists are right, I would feel really stupid'

Ron Hubbard, shelter manufacturer

‘I'll spend three days underground in the shelter just to be safe. If you have a shelter you might as well go in it. I don't think anything will happen but you never know.’

The 500 sq ft cylindrical shelters - produced at Mr Hubbard’s based in California - each measure 10ft in diameter and 50ft long.

They have escape tunnels with one sided hatches which can only open from the inside, as well as sealed contamination rooms between the entrance and living areas.

But they have proved popular not just with those preparing for armageddon, but hunters too.

Installation: The chambers are mean to be installed 20 feet underground - offering comfort as the world falls apart around you

Relax in comfort: A leather sofa and basins can be found inside the Doomsday underground bunker

Space optimization: There are a range of shelters for sale- this one being cheaper than the luxury edition

Mr Hubbard said: ‘I started making them because I wanted one for myself, but didn't want to pay $1million (£600,000) to $2million (£1.2million) for them.

'I'll spend three days underground in the shelter just to be safe. If you have a shelter you might as well go in it. I don't think anything will happen but you never know'

Ron Hubbard, shelter manufacturer

‘We get a lot of people who buy the shelters as a form of insurance for the worst case scenario. Just like someone would buy fire insurance in case their home suffers a fire.

‘We have gone from selling one a month to one a day in the past year since Obama's re-election.
‘Many people are afraid of economic meltdown, others simply want to have one just in case something catastrophic does happen.

‘People love them. They make a very nice hunting cabin or weekend retreat, so they don't just have to sit there waiting for a catastrophe.’

Creature comforts: The small dining area with an ornament on the side is reminiscent of a table at a diner

Home made: There is a mini fridge and microwave in the shelter but little other space for food preparation

Tight quarters: Visitors likened the California shelter to a studio apartment when they looked around

CCTV with a view of the world upstairs: Add a few trinkets and posters and you have a home from home

Messi hits jackpot!

Lionel Messi is ready to sign for life at Barcelona with a deal that would give him the highest club wages of any footballer in Europe's top leagues.

The player's father, Jorge, has already opened negotiations with the Catalan club over extending his current contract, meaning he will stay at Barcelona until he is at least 31.

Money bags: Messi looks set for a mega contract

The deal is expected to be structured so that it increases yearly, rising to £12.5million a year net before bonuses. Messi, 25, signed his last big contract in the 2009-10 season with then sporting director Txiki Begiristain and his vice-president Marc Ingla. 

That contract is heavily incentivised with his pay, after bonuses, in any given season automatically becoming his basic pay for the following season.

President Sandro Rosell is keen to extend that deal by two years to ensure he stays at Barcelona before fulfilling his ambition of a swansong in Argentina before he retires.

The top 10 richest players

1 Lionel Messi (Barcelona) £27.5m

2 David Beckham (Free agent) £26.2m

3 Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) £24.3m

4 S amuel Eto'o (Anzhi Makhachkala) £19.4m

5 Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) £17.2m

6 Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris St Germain) £16m

7 S ergio Aguero (Manchester City) £15.7m

8 Yaya Toure (Manchester City) £14.7m

9 Fernando Torres (Chelsea) £13.9m

10 Kaka (Real Madrid) £12.9m
 

The player's net take-home pay before bonuses is estimated at £9m year, behind Paris Saint-Germain striker  Zlatan Ibrahimovic's £12m and Samuel Eto'o, who earns £16m at Anzhi Makhachkala.

Although his bonuses, as well as sponsorship, invariably take Messi past those players, the new deal could see his basic pay leave him clear of the field.

It would also see him pull away from Cristiano Ronaldo's estimated £9m annual earnings before bonuses. That will annoy Ronaldo's camp, who have been frustrated by Real Madrid's failure to start talks over a new deal for the  Portugal forward. 

Today, Messi comes up against Atletico Madrid and the player Roman Abramovich wants to put in a similar pay league at Stamford Bridge, Radamel Falcao. 

The Chelsea owner will offer the Colombia striker a five-year, £200,000-a-week contract but his dream of landing the world's most wanted No 9 could be thwarted by Real Madrid. 

A bid of €60m (£48.8m) will land the striker, who destroyed Chelsea in the European Super Cup in August, but Real president Florentino Perez is committed to meeting that asking price at the end of the season.

Left behind: Cristiano Ronaldo could be eclipsed by Messi in pay chart

Just as Messi is beyond the reach of the Chelsea owner, Real's determination not to miss out on Falcao - as they did Sergio Aguero - threatens the Russian's chances of landing his latest top target.

A gentleman's agreement between Real and Atletico has in the past stopped the former from signing the latter's players but Perez was criticised by fans for allowing Aguero to join  Manchester City last season. He is up for re-election this summer and needs a big signing to help him win.

Despite the Madrid clubs' understanding, Aguero was bound for Real before the start of last season until differences over which agent would be used scuppered the deal.

That will not be an issue as Falcao is represented by Jorge Mendes, who already manages a host of Real's top players, including Ronaldo.

Perez was at an awards ceremony in midweek with Falcao and was filmed without his knowledge joking with the player and goalkeeper Iker Casillas that he would pass the striker a serviette with the words 'do you want to sign for Madrid?' on it.

That's rich: Kaka may be a bit-part player but he receives £12.9m

This is a reference to the note he scrawled on a napkin for Zinedine Zidane when the two met prior to the Frenchman signing for Madrid from Juventus.
Perez was alerted to the rolling  cameras by Casillas, who told him: 'Be careful, president. They are filming.'

The man who landed Zidane as well as Luis Figo, Ronaldo and David Beckham in the team that became known as the Galaticos wants another earth-shattering signing to send out a message to football's new money.

Messi's Barcelona team-mate David Villa, another former Chelsea target, could also be on his way out of Spain after being edged out at the Nou Camp.

The 31-year-old was the last of former president Joan Laporta's signings and  is on a €6m-a-year deal that runs until 2014. He has started six league games this season.

On the road to snow-where!

This spectacular snowy route marks the border between Sweden and Norway - and is perfect challenge for adventure-loving snowmobilers.

But this group are quite literally treading on a thin line - because to their right is Norway where riding a snowmobile for fun is illegal while to their left is Sweden where it is allowed.

Strict laws in Norway mean unless it is work related, riding snowmobiles is against the law. 

But photographer Havard Dalgrav, 25, and his friends were undeterred by the risk of ending up on the wrong side of the law and travelled four hours to the border to capture these stunning shots.

The snow motorway: Snowmobilers ride down the cleared border between Sweden, pictured on the left where riding snowmobiles for fun is legal, and Norway on the right where it is not 

A bumpy ride: The snowy route is more than 1000 miles long - making it the longest border for either country

The incredible snowy terrain, home to wolves and brown bears, is more than 1000 miles long and is the longest border along either country.

Mr Dalgrav, from Oslo, Norway, discovered the route while travelling to Sweden for a snowmobile trip earlier this year.

 

He said: 'It's a really breath-taking sight - the track seems to go on forever and as much as I'd love to get to the end of it I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to.

'It looks natural but I'm sure the trees must have been removed to mark the border, maybe left from WWII or something when this was much stricter.

'When you zoom in on the internet using Google Maps you can actually see the gap on the border and follow it all the way along from top to bottom.'

A winter wonderland: A man walks through the freshly-fallen snow in Chemnitz, eastern Germany, yesterday

Going nowhere fast: Bikes are covered in heavy snow in Munich, southern Germany, today as temperatures in the Bavarian capital fell below freezing

Vineyards were left covered in snow near Durbach, southern Germany, today

A quick dip: Ducks make the most of a river that has remained unfrozen after more snowfall in the Belarusian capital Minsk

But while the pictures may make the route appear to be as smooth as motorway, Mr Dalgrav revealed it was actually a rather bumpy ride. 

He continued: 'It's about 10-15 metres wide and what you can't tell from the pictures is that it's really quite bumpy so you can't get the sort of speed you crave looking at the long straight line.

'The laws are quite unusual so a lot of us from university travel over to Sweden together. Just a few meters to the right and we would have been breaking the law.

'We discovered it in February this year and we decided to make it an annual trip. It was about -15c so when driving at 100kmh with the wind in your face it's pretty cold.

'Unfortunately due to the temperature my camera stopped working - thankfully it was after I got this shot of the route snaking along the border for miles into the distance.
'It was so much fun and it's not every day you see something this beautiful.'

Clearing the way: Snowplows clean the A20 highway in eastern Germany after heavy snowfall

A long journey ahead: A man on cross-country skis attempts to make his way across a field in front of a church of Weyarn, Bavaria, Germany

Weather around the world: Snow falls in the suburbs of Beijing, China, bringing traffic problems and delayed flights for the first time 

Hard at work: A worker clears the tracks of the Chur-Arosa line at the train station in Litzirueti, Switzerland, yesterday

Beautiful photographs of horse loggers

It was a picturesque scene that could easily grace the cover of a Christmas card, as a full-time commercial horse logger was photographed removing Scots Pine trees from in the snow.

Simon Lenihan was pictured removing the trees in Crathie, Aberdeenshire, from the Balmoral Estate yesterday with Belgian Ardennes horses Sultan De Le Campagne, 15, and Salome Du Pre Renier, 4.

The beautiful horses working at the royal residence of Balmoral at this time of year were being used in place of large timber machines to minimise any damage to vegetation, soils and water-tables.  

Traditional values: Simon Lenihan, a full time commercial horse logger, removes a Scots Pine tree from the Balmoral Estate with Sultan De Le Campagne, a 15-year-old Belgian Aldennes horse

Beautiful scene: Simon Lenihan uses Salome Du Pre Renier, a 4-year-old Belgian Ardennes horse, to remove another Scots Pine tree from the estate

Tough work: Simon Lenihan removes a Scots Pine tree from the Balmoral Estate with Sultan De Le Campagne, a 15-year-old Belgian Ardennes horse

Traditional trade: The Prince of Wales is the Patron of The British Horse Loggers, an association that works to promote horse logging and support professional horse loggers

The Prince of Wales is the Patron of the British Horse Loggers, an association that works to promote horse logging and support professional horse loggers.

 

Mr Lenihan, who lives in Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria, was working in temperatures of -4C (25F) yesterday with his son Ian in front of photographer Jeff Mitchell.

Mr Mitchell, 42, of Balloch, West Dunbartonshire, told MailOnline: ‘They take the horses instead of using heavy machinery which causes quite a lot of damage to the ground.

Teamwork: Simon Lenihan and his son Ian, full time commercial horse loggers, remove a Scots Pine tree

Old-fashioned ways: The horses working at Balmoral are being used in place of large timber machines

Carefully does it: The purpose is to minimise any damage to vegetation, soils and water-tables

Together: Simon Lenihan removes a Scots Pine tree from the Balmoral Estate with Sultan De Le Campagne

‘I think those guys must have been working in temperatures of -4c. There’s a bit of frost on the ground, but those guys start around 5:30am and go and warm the horses up on a two-mile walk.

‘That gets the muscles and the blood going through the horses. They’re going back to the methods people were using 100 years ago. The neck harness is made by the Amish in the US.’

He added: ‘They've been up there for about 12 weeks. It's gorgeous, that whole area is just beautiful. You can see why the royal family go there. I think it's one of the most beautiful places in the UK.’ 

Going for cold: The team was working on the estate in Crathie, Aberdeenshire, in temperatures of -4C

Horse play: There are successful horse logging contractors working throughout Scotland, England and Wales

The British Horse Loggers offers demonstrations, training, professional development and works to advertise and promote horse logging

The British Horse Loggers's website describes horse logging as 'the extraction of timber using horses as 'base machine' with a wide range of traditional and modern implements'. 

It continues: 'Horse loggers work through the whole range of timber produced in British woodlands; from small coppice poles and firewood, through thinnings in soft and hard woods up to final crop - large saw logs in soft and hard woods.'

The organisation offers demonstrations, training, professional development and works to advertise and promote horse logging.

Sultan De Le Campagne drags along a Scots pine trunk, while Simon Lenihan follows on

The Lenihans were working today in sub-zero temperatures. They first take the horse for a two-mile walk to warm them up

Purchased by Queen Victoria in 1848, the Balmoral Estate has been the Scottish home of the Royal Family ever since.

The estate covers about 20,000 hectares (just over 50,000 acres) of heather-clad hills and ancient Caledonian woodland.

Over the past 150 years, careful stewardship by the Royal Family has preserved its wildlife, scenery and architecture.