Prince Harry to visit Portsmouth

Prince Harry

By Michael Powell
Published on Thursday 10 March 2011 08:39

PRINCE Harry will come to Portsmouth Naval Base next week to award medals to sailors who served in Iraq.
The prince’s visit on Friday March 18 will also see him attend a ceremony at the Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard as part of celebrations to mark 500 years since the Tudor warship was launched.
Harry, who is the naval Commodore-In-Chief, Small Ships and Diving, will hand out operational medals to sailors of HMS Grimsby, HMS Middleton and HMS Shoreham who served on the minehunting ships in Iraq. Mine Warfare Battle Staff deployed to the country will also be awarded medals.
Prince Harry will be given a tour of a minehunter and meet groups of Naval Personnel and their families.
He will then visit the Mary Rose Trust for a tour of the museum and its collection before taking part in the Foundation Stone Ceremony for the new Mary Rose Museum, which is due to open Autumn next year.
The ceremony will see school pupils from Haslemere Preparatory School hand over their 2011 time capsule of eight items to be buried in the floor of the new museum.
The Mary Rose Trust has received a £21 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to complete the £35 million project for the conservation of the hull and to build a permanent museum, which will also house over two thirds of the treasured collection recovered.
The ship sunk off the Isle of Wight in 1545 while leading the attack on the galleys of a French invasion fleet. The wreck was rediscovered in 1971 and salvaged in 1982 by the Mary Rose Trust in one of the most complex and expensive projects in the history of maritime archaeology.