Ludlow Town looking forward to a royal visitor (From Ludlow Advertiser)

Prince Charles coming to Ludlow Town

8:00am Friday 14th September 2012 in News

A VISIT from HRH The Prince of Wales crowns a special week for Ludlow.

After a food festival that was hailed as one of the best ever, Prince Charles flies in on Monday to see the town’s walls and tour the market before going on to St Laurence’s Church and the Jubilee Garden.

Tony Pound, Mayor of Ludlow, says the future king won’t want for a warm welcome in the festival’s wake.

“It’s a special time, the town has very many royal connections and this will reinforce those links,” he said.

There are particular links to the Prince of Wales, Arthur Prince of Wales – the elder brother of King Henry VIII – died in Ludlow Castle in April 1502.

Prince Charles will arrive by helicopter sometime in the early afternoon to be presented to the mayor, mayoress and other dignitaries.

“It will be me meeting him and welcoming him as an individual but also as a representative of the people of the town.

“It is one of the great privileges of being mayor,” said Mr Pound, whose own memories of royal visits go back a long way.

He was there when the Queen’s sister, the late Princess Margaret, came to town in 1959 to mark the completion of the restoration campaign for St Laurence’s Church.

“As she came out of the church I was just a few feet away. I remember her as a small but extremely pretty woman,” said Mr Pound.

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh came to Ludlow in July 2003 to see the new library and museum resource centre.

They too toured the market before spending time in the castle, after which they were driven to the station to depart on the royal train.