His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh and Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal are to carry out a number of engagements on the Isle of Wight between 3th and 5th August during Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week.
HRH The Duke of Edinburgh is to attend the annual Cowes Week service at Holy Trinity Church on Sunday 3rd August before attending a reception and dinner at the Royal Yacht Squadron to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Cowes Combined Clubs, which was formed in 1964 on his suggestion.
On Monday 4th August The Duke of Edinburgh will visit Clare Lallow, a Cowes-based boat building company established in 1867. HRH will meet staff and view work in progress as well as some previous builds, including ‘Opposition’ (formerly called ‘Morning Cloud II’) which was commissioned in 1970 by the then Prime Minster, Edward Heath.
The Duke will also visit Beken Ltd to view a photographic exhibition with the theme ‘Royalty at Cowes’. The Beken family started marine photography in 1888 selling their photographs alongside medicines and perfumes at the family’s pharmacy. Kenneth Beken, who runs the family business today will welcome HRH to the exhibition and invite HRH to view the many photographs taken in Cowes and on the Solent over many years.
His Royal Highness will then visit Cowes Yacht Haven to meet representatives from Aberdeen Asset Management, the title sponsor of Cowes Week.
Later that day, HRH The Princess Royal arrives on the Isle of Wight. Her first engagement is at Medina Valley Centre, an independent environmental and outdoor education charity situated on the banks of the River Medina near Newport. HRH will be invited to tour the waterside facilities viewing three new dinghies, visit one of the field studies classrooms and walk the centre’s nature trail.
Her Royal Highness will then attend a reception at the Royal London Yacht Club in Cowes, in her capacity as admiral, where she will be invited to meet flag officers, members and trustees.
On Monday evening Her Royal Highness will attend a vigil service at the Chapel of St Nicholas in Castro in Carisbrooke Castle, the Island’s official war memorial, to commemorate the outbreak of the First World War.
On Tuesday 5th August, The Princess Royal will take part in yacht racing in the Solent with young ambassadors and representatives from Cowes-based youth charity UKSA, where The Princess Royal is patron. This year, UKSA is the regatta’s newly appointed official charity and funds raised throughout the week will go towards giving every Year 6 pupil on the Isle of Wight a session out on the water over the next two years.
At 10:00 on Tuesday 5th August, to mark 100 years after the first shot at sea was fired by the Royal Navy a day after the First World War in Britain was declared, the National Museum of the Royal Navy will mark the centenary by inviting a sail past by Royal Navy patrol vessel HMS Mersey off the Royal Yacht Squadron. A single cannon will be fired from the Royal Yacht Squadron and spectators and competitors will join together for a one minute silence in memory of all those who have served in defence of the nation. A further cannon will signify the end of the silence.
Lord-Lieutenant of the Isle of Wight, Major General Martin White CB CBE JP, said:
“I am very much looking forward to welcoming HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and HRH The Princess Royal to the Isle of Wight, both of whom are regular visitors to the Island.
“I am particularly pleased that The Princess Royal is to join our commemorations to mark the centenary of the start of the First World War; the service is set to be a moving tribute to those who served and gave their lives for our country.”
