A Royal Visit

Eighty years ago, on 8^th December 1940, Wellington College was visited by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, accompanied by their daughters, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret. The visit was intended to boost school morale after the death of the Master, Bobby Longden, in enemy bombing two months previously.

The photograph above shows the King accompanied by the Acting Master Mr Gould, the Queen with the Head of School, R F Preedy, and the two Princesses walking behind them. The royal family attended chapel and also visited the Combermere, the Air Raid Patrol HQ, and the Stanley air raid shelter.

This page seen below from the College Visitors’ Book shows the signatures of the royal party, including that of Elizabeth, our present queen, then fourteen years old.