PRINCE Charles will personally repay a 350-year-old debt with Worcester's Clothiers Company when he visits the city today.

The debt was run up by King Charles II in 1651 before the Battle of Worcester when he commissioned the Clothiers Company to make uniforms for his troops.

The King promised to pay after winning the battle, but Cromwell won and Charles fled to Europe, leaving a debt of £453 and three shillings, which he did not settle after he acceded to the throne.

The Prince of Wales, accompanied by the Duchess of Cornwall, will personally repay the sum of £453.15 as a gesture of goodwill during a visit to the Commandery in Worcester, which served as the headquarters for the Royalists during the battle.

The money, in coins, will be presented in a 1650-style gaming purse' made by the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Andrew Grant, the current High Master of the Clothiers Company, which is now described as a "small livery company", said: "We are very grateful to the Prince of Wales for repaying the debt during His Royal Highness's visit to the Commandery.

"We very much look forward to welcoming the Prince and The Duchess to this historic building which is steeped in history and which will make this a most happy, memorable and unique event."

As part of a day of engagements in the county, the Prince and The Duchess will be presented with an historic issue of Berrow's Worcester Journal - sister title to your Worcester News and the oldest newspaper in the world. They will also open the new Upton Surgery, where they will meet local people by last summer's floods, and will travel along the Severn Valley Railway to celebrate the re-opening of the line, also damaged by flooding.

Sidbury's junction with Bath Road and City Walls Road will be closed between 10am and 2pm for the royal visit. Drivers travelling down London Road will have to turn left up Bath Road, and those travelling down Bath Road will have to turn right up London Road.