Prestbury's Royal Visits
In 1788 King George III, Queen Charlotte and three of their daughters visited Cheltenham for five weeks. During their stay the Royal party attended theatre plays and went sightseeing on social excursions in the neighbouring areas. Sometimes the King would indulge his interest in farming by riding off alone to call on local farmers. It believed that on one of these sightseeing trips the King and Queen Charlotte visited Prestbury and took tea at “The Grotto” tea rooms in Mill Street.
During October 1980 the village celebrated the 700th anniversary of the first named Vicar of St Mary's Church, records of earlier names having been lost. The whole village turned out to greet Prince Charles who came to read the Lesson at the 11 o'clock service. Crowds packed the street afterwards when His Royal Highness made his way to the three chairs placed outside The Thatched Cottage in Deep Street for Miss Cobb and centenarians Miss Dymock and Miss Luke, for that was the time when the Vicar could boast that his congregation ranged in age from six weeks to over one hundred years.
One of the most frequent royal visitors to Prestbury was the Queen Mother who made a detour on her way to the races every March to stop outside the Bakery Stores. It all began in 1969 when Philip Delaney had a grocery business in Leckhampton and invited his customers to gather outside on Gold Cup Day to see the Queen Mother drive past at 4.30pm. Unfortunately bad weather upset his plan and the royal car sped by before that time.
Feeling responsible for the disappointment he had unwittingly caused, Philip wrote to the Queen's secretary, Sir Martin Gilliatt, explaining what had happened and to his delight was promised that the royal car would slow down the following year. When the great day arrived flags and daffodils were provided by Philip for the children, but when he was invited to step into the royal car he still had an armful of flowers which he presented to the Queen Mother.
The custom continued, but flowers were replaced by a box of the Queen Mother's favourite chocolates. Sadly Philip thought the visits would cease when his lease expired and he moved to Prestbury but to his delight and that of John Fogarty of the Bakery Stores he was informed that in future the Queen Mother would make a detour on her way to the Races and would stop outside the Bakery Store.
For many years there was great activity at the beginning of March every year. The white outside walls of the Bakery Store got “freshened up”, large photographs of the Queen Mother appeared in the window, flags unfurled above the thatched roof and a large notice proclaimed :
PRESTBURY WELCOMES THE QUEEN MOTHER
The Royal visitor often got out of the car to chat to Philip and also to John and Anne Fogarty. In 1986 John fulfilled a long felt wish when the Queen Mother accepted his invitation to step inside to see one of Prestbury's oldest shops.
Source material Prince Charles & Queen Mother gratefully acknowledged –
Florence E Jackson – A Potrait of Prestbury.