Campaigners call on King Charles to save Kent sandbank from destructive dredging

Over centuries the treacherous Goodwin Sands off Kent - known as the great "ship swallower" - has entombed more than 2,000 shipwrecks, dozens of second world war aircraft and is the final resting place of thousands.

- Caroline Davies

Shakespeare described it as "a very dangerous flat, and fatal".

In 1703, five vessels were sucked into its shifting sands during a storm, including the English warship HMS Northumberland, which only now is yielding its well-preserved secrets.

Campaigners fear this unique area is now at risk from destructive dredging for building sand and aggregate. They are appealing to the crown estate, which owns the seabed, and calling on King Charles for support.

Writing to Charles, as a "committed conservationist...and as a beneficiary of the crown estate's commercial activities", the Goodwin Sands Conservation Trust has asked him to encourage the crown estate to remove the sands from a list of potential marine aggregate extraction sites.

The king's public duties are paid by the sovereign grant, calculated on a percentage of crown estate profits.