St Catherine's Island, Tenby wins praise from Eurovision's Loreen

During this week’s semi-finals, when Swedish entry Loreen sang her heart out to ensure a place in Saturday’s final, she announced that St Catherine’s Island which lies just off Tenby, is one of her favourite places in the world.

“We were so excited,” commented the Catherine Island team on social media.

“The Swedish entry said that we were their favourite place to visit! Woohoo!”

And as Loreen – otherwise known as Lorine Zineb Nora Talhaoui –begins her countdown to Saturday’s final, St Catherine fans are hoping that their infamous island will get yet another mention on primetime tv.

The island first gained notoriety when the Earl of Pembroke, the uncle of Henry VII, took ownership of it until the reign of Elizabeth 1.

For many centuries, its sole building was a tiny church, but this was sadly demolished in 1867 to make way for the construction of St Catherine’s Fort.

Around 1907 the fort was bought by the Windsor Richards family who converted it into a house but then in 1962 it gained its greatest notoriety when it was sold to a Tenby businessman who subsequently turned into a zoo. The zoo continued to operate until 1979.

In 2014 the island was opened to the public for visits and tours, and remains open to this day. Since then, it has been used to shoot several films including The Final Problem in 2016 and the BBC series Sherlock, when it served as a maximum security prison.

Sweden's Loreen has sailed through to the grand final of the Eurovision song contest. (Image: PA)

Meanwhile Swedish singer/songwriter Loreen remains the odds-on favourite to win this year’s Eurovision with her song entitled ‘Tattoo’.

She previously participated in the annual contest in 2012, winning with 'Euphoria'.

The Eurovision semi-finals are being hosted by Britain’s Got Talent judge Alesha Dixon, Ukrainian singer Julia Sanina and Ted Lasso’s Hannah Waddingham.