Royalty

Christmas Eve at the Front

An interesting letter has just been received by Mrs Packer, of Broadclyst, from her husband, Corpl Packer of A Company, 1st Battalion Devonshire Regiment, who is serving with the Expeditionary Force in Northern France. In the course of a letter he describes a remarkable incident which occurred on Christmas Eve between the British and German trenches.

Weare Giffard 20-year-old

Aboard the Royal yacht Britannia on the Royal honeymoon cruise through the Caribbean is 20 year old ME (I) Robert John Griffin, of Brook Cottage, Weare Giffard.

Robert, son of Mr and Mrs J Griffin, was educated at Torrington County Secondary School and was a member of the Bideford Sea Cadet Corps.

He joined the Navy three years ago, and became a member of the crew of the Britannia in January this year. He has already been to the West Indies on the Royal yacht – when the Princess Royal visited there.

Gazette article dated 13 May 1960

Bideford Girl’s Birthday Card to Royal Princess

A 12 year old Bideford girl who shares a love of horses with Princess Anne sent the Princess a birthday card

and has been thrilled to get a reply from Buckingham Palace.

Karen Hodgins, daughter of Mr and Mrs E Dawe, of 18 Sentry Corner, sent the postcard entirely on her own initiative. A pupil at Bideford County Secondary School, her health has not been good lately, a situation not helped by the loss of her pony, and she is receiving medical treatment.

A reply from the Princess, signed by a Lady-in-Waiting, thanks her for her kind message, and adds “Her Royal Highness was most touched by your thought for her and I am to tell you how much she appreciates this.”

Gazette article dated 25 August 1972

Lundy To Greet Royal Visitor On Sunday

Landing depends on wind not being in the east.

9.5.1958 Lundy Queen Mother

Lundy will have its first visit from a member of the British Royal Family when Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, steps ashore on the island on Sunday afternoon.
Provided there is no easterly wind, the Britannia, in which the Queen Mother returns home from Northern Ireland tomorrow will anchor in Lundy Roads off the tiny landing beach on the east coast of the island.
As she steps ashore the Queen Mother will be greeted by the owner of Lundy, Mr Albion Harman, and will meet the inhabitants who now number about twenty.
Arrangements may will be made by Mr F W Gade, the resident agent, who has lived on Lundy for nearly thirty years, for the Royal visitor to be taken up the path in a conveyance drawn by the island’s farm tractor.
Nearing the top of the cliff path, Her Majesty will pass the owner’s residence, Millcombe, built over a century ago by the then owner of the island, the Rev William Hudson Heaven, but since modernised.
The full article is dated 9 May 1958