Reading royal family visits over the years

Over the years, Reading has had its fair share of visits from royalty from the Queen Mother to Princess Anne.

We have delved back into the archives and listed five occasions royals have visited the town stretching back to 1948.

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Princess Anne 2019

Princess Anne visited female students at the University Technical College (UTC) back in January last year (2019).

The royal made the visit to support the launch of a new game, designed to break the stereotype that science, technology, engineering and maths careers are more suited to boys.

The Princess is a patron of WISE who released the free to use game, My Skills My Life.

Georgia, a student from University Technical College, said: “I think it was exciting and nerve-racking meeting Princess Anne, but a lot of people won’t get the chance to meet a royal.”

Prince Charles 2019

The Prince of Wales visited Reading in March 2019 to celebrate the centenary of University College of Estate Management (UCEM).

His Royal Highness, who is a Patron of the College, took a tour around the building on Queen's Road, learned about its new virtual learning platform and unveiled a plaque to commemorate his visit.

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Queen Mother 1955

A treasure trove of old black and white photographs dating back over six decades show the Royals visiting Reading.

The photos were taken on cumbersome plate cameras, using a negative measuring 5x4 inches and then printed directly on to photographic paper.

One of the pictures shows The Queen Mother visiting Reading’s Huntley and Palmers in November 1955.

A crowd of workers can be seen cheering and clapping as she passed between the factory buildings, whilst another shows her watching a master cake decorator, piping icing into intricate shapes.

Another picture shows a visit that she undertook as the Queen in April 1948 to HMS Dauntless in Burghfield, the training centre for Royal Navy Wrens.

Princess Margaret

Prince Margaret visited the Mary Hare School in Newbury in July 1951.

A guard of honour formed by Guides and Scouts, greeted the Princess, who had joined herself as a Brownie in 1937, she herself becoming President of the movement in 1965.

Queen Elizabeth visits Bracknell 2018

Elsewhere in the county, the Queen herself visited The Lexicon shopping centre in October 2018.

Her Majesty was welcomed by hundreds of Bracknell residents before taking a tour around the shopping centre.