Click on the photo to read the article from Kentnews.
The Duchess of Gloucester officially opened a refurbished inpatient unit at the Heart of Kent Hospice. The new unit was the result of a £286,000 grant provided by the Department of Health, with the goal of improving the environment for the terminally ill adults who are served by the hospice.
According to an article from Kentnews.co.uk, the Duchess was welcomed to the area by the Lord Lieutenant of Kent, and was greeted at the Heart of Kent Hospice by its patron, Viscountess Monckton of Brenchley. The Duchess spent time meeting with members of the project team, and also unveiled a plaque created in honor of her visit.
Some of the renovations to the unit include improved lighting, new bedding and curtains, as well as a new floor and a new bathroom. These improvements were funded by the grant, while additional improvements including a family bedroom and therapy room, were funded by the Frances Winham Foundation, the Genzyme Corporation, and the Caron Keating Foundation.
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In the past week the last two surviving World War One veterans living in Britain have both passed away. Henry Allingham (image) died aged 113 on 18th July and a week later the last veteran Harry Patch also passed away. Earlier this year Bill Stone another WW1 veteran died. To mark the passing of the last of the Great War veterans a memorial service is planned for later in the year to be held at Westminster Abbey with the Queen as a possible guest. It will be a chance for the British public to openly thank all veterans in WW1 who gave so much to their country.
Henry Allingham was probably the most recognised of the three veterans and frequently attended events relating to the Great War. Not only was he the world’s oldest man but he was also the last survivor of the Battle of Jutland and a founder member of the RAF. Born in 1896 during Queen Victoria’s regin he lived through events of the past century that most of us only read about. He lived during the reigns of five British monarchs and witnessed the abdication of Edward VIII.
The Queen paid tribute to Mr Allingham saying he was “one of the generation who sacrificed so much for us all”. image – meeting the Queen prior to attending at garden party at Buckingham Palace. Whilst Prince Charles also remarked that about the sacrifice of WW1 veterans as “belonging to that incredible generation who did so much for their country”. image – Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall marking the 90th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. Henry Allingham had meet with a number of Royals on various occasions. The Duchess of Gloucester in her role as President of World War One Veterans Association was the closest to Allingham. On number of occasions, such as the opening of a Battle of Jutland exhibition in 2006 at the HMS Belfast (image) and at veteran association events, the Duchess meet with Henry. She also was the only Royal to attend the 90th anniversary memorial event on 11th November 2008 at the Cenotaph which saw all three veterans lay wreaths. image , image It was therefore fitting that it was the Duchess who on Thursday attended Henry’s funeral in Brighton.
Click here for an article about Henry Allingham’s funeral.
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Last Saturday, over 200 people attended the grand opening of the Edward Brooks military barracks in Oxfordshire. The new barracks cost £4 million to build, and were officially opened by the Duchess of Gloucester.
Click here to see the photo from the Oxford Mail
The Oxford Mail reports that the barracks have been named for Edward Brooks, who was a local Territorial Army hero during World War I. Brooks was awarded the Victoria Cross in 1917. Many members of Sargent Major Brooks’ family were in attendance. His three grandchildren told the Mail that they were “extremely proud the barracks had been named in his honor”.
The Duchess was presented with a bouquet of pink and white flowers from nine year-old Rosemary Dicks, who stated that she was nervous, but was excited to give the flowers to the royal guest. “It was a real honor for me”, the nine year-old told reporters. After the official opening, the Duchess was given a tour of the facility. This is not the first military experience for the Duchess. She serves as Royal Colonel of the 7th Battalion, The Rifles.
Now that the new facility is opened, Territorial Army units will move from their previous facility, Slade Park, in Headington. It will also house the D Squadron of 202 Field Hospital and the Thames Valley Air Training Corps. Doctors with the Field Hospital are hoping that the new facility will help to modernize the army’s image. 32 year-old Dr. Jennifer Dinsdale said that, “It’s an honor the Duchess has opened the facility and remembered both TA units currently have members deployed in Afghanistan”.
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Last August, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester took a trip to the nation of Tonga in order to be present for the coronation ceremony of King George Tupou V. They also visited the Solomon Islands. It is now revealed that the cost to fly the Duke and Duchess to the South Pacific was £149,413, according to an article by the Press Association. The information was revealed in a report on royal accounting that was recently released.
The Duke and Duchess made this trip at the request of the Foreign Office. The money for the trip is funded by the British taxpayers. The report also revealed that in 2008, the royals took more commercial charter flights than in 2007. The cost of all royal travel in 2008 was 300,000 pounds higher than in 2007, at £6.5 million.
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Click here to see the photo from the BBC
Today, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, along with Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and his wife, Sarah, attended the very first Armed Forces Day celebrations at the Historic Dockyard, in Chatham, Kent. This is not the first time that Great Britain has honored the military; the event was previously known as Veteran’s Day. The name has been changed to Armed Forces Day, in order to include the thousands of men and women who currently serve in the British military, according to a report by the BBC.
In addition to the Duke and Duchess, 30,000 people attended today’s events, which included a fly-over by the Red Arrows and the Royal Air Force’s Battle of Britain Memorial Display Team. Throughout Great Britain, concerts and parades are taking place in many cities. Despite the fact that Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II and the Prince of Wales were unable to attend, they did send greetings of “deep and enduring gratitude” to the veterans and military members, and the Queen presented campaign medals to the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards in Edinburgh.
Currently, British military members are serving in 11 different nations, as well as working with the UN. There will be more events throughout the week in honor of the Armed Forces.
For more information about the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, please visit this thread.
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There will be no ’senior royals’ attending the inaugural Armed Forces Day in Kent, according to the British media. The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester will attend the event, and one Buckingham Palace spokesman has referred to the couple as ’senior royals’, although this does not seem to match the call from the public.
The palace official pointed out the Duke and Duchess’s multiple visits to the Middle East, including Iraq and Afghanistan last year. The Duke is the patron of the Normandy Veterans Association, and 19th in line to the throne.
The event will take place on Saturday at the Historic Dockyard in Chatham, and the Duke and Duchess will receive the royal salute as Her Majesty’s representatives. On the same day, Queen Elizabeth will be in Edinburgh to present the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards with campaign medals, whilst the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall will be at Highgrove. Princes Andrew and Edward are both otherwise engaged.
Armed Forces Day aims to increase public awareness and appreciation of the Armed Forces.
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Click here to read the article from BBC News
On Saturday, June 20, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester attended a memorial service dedicated to the 66 servicemen and women who lost their lives in 2008. The service was held at the Armed Forces Memorial in the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas, Staffordshire. It was attended by the families of the deceased, the Duke and Duchess, and the Defense Minister, Baroness Ann Taylor, according to the BBC.
The memorial honors the 16,000 people who have died while on duty, or have been killed by acts of terrorism, since World War II. During yesterday’s ceremony, the 66 names were added to the wall of the Armed Forces Memorial. Baroness Taylor spoke during the ceremony, and stated that the names of the deceased “….will endure so that they can always be remembered”.
To learn more about the Armed Forces Memorial, please click here.
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Click here to read the article from This is the West Country
Birgitte, the Duchess of Gloucester, recently paid a visit to the annual Mobility Roadshow. The roadshow featured exhibits and information from manufacturers of wheelchairs and other devices designed to help with mobility. While at the exhibition, the Duchess was presented with a teddy bear from a young boy named Dillon, according to a report from This Is the West Country. The Duchess was so charmed by Dillon, and even named the teddy bear in his honor. Dillon is the nephew of the chairman of Unwin Safety Systems, which makes safety devices that lock wheelchairs into place during automobile transport.
The Mobility Roadshow held a lot of interest for the Duchess, who serves as the patron of the Association for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus (ASBAH). She has dedicated a lot of her time to helping raise awareness of the need to help others lead more independent lives. She last visited the Mobility Roadshow in 1997.
To learn more about the Association for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus, please visit this website.
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HRH Princess Richard, who is better known as the Duchess of Gloucester, gave a royal send-off to warship the HMS Gloucester, in Portsmouth today. She was welcomed warmly by the sailors on the ship, according to an article in The News. The Duchess took the time to greet and speak with the sailors, providing what was referred to by Lieutenant Commander Douggie Ward as a “morale booster”.
The HMS Gloucester will head to the south Atlantic, where it will take part in rescue and humanitarian efforts. It is not the first time that the Duchess has seen this ship; in 1982, she acted as the ship’s sponsor during its launch. She is also the sponsor of another British ship, the HMS Sandown.
The Duchess of Gloucester has a busy summer ahead of her. It was announced today by the Herts Advertiser that she will attend the St. Albans International Organ Festival in July. It will be the 25th year for the festival, and the Duchess is expected to meet young musicians from 9 different countries. The festival begins on July 8, and ends on July 18. The Duchess is scheduled to visit on Monday July 13.
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