FOLLOWING the death of Prince Philip on Friday, thoughts across the UK have naturally turned to memories of Britain’s longest serving consort – and to royal visits paid by the Duke of Edinburgh, and Her Majesty the Queen, to communities the length and breadth of the nation.
The Duke died peacefully, aged 99, at Windsor Castle on the morning of April 9.
Although Helensburgh, with its long-standing Royal Navy links, has played host to plenty of royal visits down the years, the Duke himself was a fairly rare visitor to the area.
In fact, the photo gallery on the Helensburgh Heritage Trust’s website suggests that he only visited Helensburgh itself once, and that his only other experience of the Helensburgh and Lomond air came in the form of a visit to Faslane in the mid-1990s.
His only Helensburgh visit – or at least the only one for which we could find photographic evidence - was on Monday, June 28, 1965, when he and the Queen spent 15 minutes in the town to open a new £1 million council office.
Two pictures on the Trust’s website showed the royal couple in Helensburgh Central railway station afterwards admiring a model of a ‘Blue Train’ before departing the town to return to Clydebank, where they had arrived on the Royal Yacht Britannia earlier in the day and from where they left the Clyde that evening.
The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh at Helensburgh Central station in June 1965 (Photo courtesy of Helensburgh Heritage Trust and used with permission)
READ MORE: Helensburgh remembers Queen's royal visit 50 years on (first published in 2015)
The Helensburgh and Gareloch Times reported afterwards: “The human touch came as Her Majesty stepped over to sign the town’s visitor’s book and a portrait of herself.
“It was then that the Duke of Edinburgh broke away from the main party and approached the barrier.
“He threw his arms out over the heads of a group of tiny tot schoolchildren and smilingly exclaimed, ‘Are you all being crushed?’
“This was the second quip of a jovial day for the Duke.
“At Dumbarton earlier he surveyed a group of ermine-clad baillies and cracked, ‘You chaps warm enough?’.
“The Queen battled through illness to make the visit to Helensburgh, but still made time to greet people from the town.”
The Duke of Edinburgh at Faslane in October 1994 (Photo courtesy of Helensburgh Heritage Trust and used with permission)
It was the final public engagement of a busy day in Dunbartonshire for the couple – after disembarking from the Royal Yacht in Clydebank, they visited the Singer sewing machine factory in Clydebank, the Municipal Chambers, Dumbarton Common, the Vale of Leven Hospital and even found time for a Loch Lomond cruise aboard the Maid of the Loch paddle steamer.
The only other picture of the Duke on the Trust’s website shows him visiting the Clyde submarine base at Faslane in October 1994 in his role as Admiral of the Fleet, wearing a hard had and deep in conversation with a group of Navymen and officials.
The following month’s issue of Navy News reported: “He was met by base commander Commodore Brian Perowne, and was given a tour of the Royal Naval Strategic Systems School and the Submarine Command Trainer.
“He then visited HMS Renown before taking a waterfront tour of the base.”
According to the Lieutenancy of Dunbartonshire, however, the Duke paid at least one other official visit to Faslane, when he met members of 43 Commando Royal Marines in 2012 in in his capacity as Captain General of the Royal Marines.
To see more of the Helensburgh Heritage Trust's pictures of past royal visits to the area, click here.
READ MORE: Catch up with all the latest Helensburgh and Lomond news headlines here
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