Duchess of Cornwall Meets Military Wives, Honours Commonwealth Soldiers

The Countess of Wessex was not the only royal in Brockenhurst today – the Duchess of Cornwall also paid a visit.

Her engagements included a visit to St Nicholas’ Church where she laid a bouquet of flowers at the Commonwealth War Graves in the church cemetery. 100 graves – 93 New Zealander soldiers, 3 Indian soldiers and 3 Belgian civilians – lie in the New Zealand plot of the cemetery. The Duchess also was shown a new stained glass window that has been installed honouring the work of the doctors and nurses who travelled from New Zealand to assist in the nearby hospital during World War One.

Afterwards, Camilla headed over to the Tile Barn Outdoor Centre where she officially opened the Poppy Pod Village which has been built to offer camping facilities to members of the Armed Forces and their families.

The Duchess was shown some of the pods before a reception with personnel from The Queen’s Own Rifles, a regiment Camilla is Colonel-in-Chief of. The Military Wives Choir of Salisbury and Marchwood performed during the reception, where Camilla happily took selfies with some of the families.

Filed under The United Kingdom
Tagged Commonwealth of Nations, Military, The Duchess of Cornwall, Veterans, World War I.