With much talk of royal weddings, birthdays and visits in the media at the moment we have been thinking about some of our own royal visitors to the School. In particular, the visit by HRH Prince of Wales to officially open the School’s new Keppel Street building on 18 July 1929.
The School’s archives have a remarkable set of records from the visit of the future King Edward VIII, including photographs, invitations, tickets, music programmes, order of proceedings and menus. From these documents we know that the Prince gave a speech in the library and then was taken on a complete tour of the building which included visiting the museum, laboratories and finally visiting the workmen in a marquee in the south-west courtyard. Music from the Cold Stream Guards was played at intervals throughout the visit and the Chairman of the Board of Management, Lord Melchett hosted a luncheon which included cantaloupe melon, portions of salmon, chicken in béchamel sauce, lamb chops with Russian salad and raspberry marquise.
Other members of the royal family to have visited the School since its foundation include: HM King George V; HM King George VI (patron of LSHTM 1937-1952); HRH The Duke of Edinburgh (patron of LSHTM, 1952-present); HRH The Princess Royal; HRH Princess Alexandra; and HM Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother.
If you would like to find out more about the history of the School or the archive collections visit our webpage at http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/library/archives/ or contact us at archives@lshtm.ac.uk
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