Revealed: Whistlestop tour of South Shields uncovers secret sauce of The Princess Royal
We may have lost out on the perfect picture of The Princess Royal - but we did glean one secret
This editor’s dream front page picture from our Royal visit was a shot of The Princess Royal tucking into a bag of Colmans chips wrapped in your beloved Shields Gazette.
Alas, royal etiquette and modern food hygiene rules meant we were denied the perfect tabloid image during her whistlestop tour of South Shields last week.
Apparently photographing members of the royal family eating is an etiquette faux pas of epic proportions.
While we at the Shields Gazette are sticklers for royal protocol, I did manage to find the answer to the question I posed last week: Does the Princess prefer red or brown sauce? But I’ll save that for the final word in this column.
What we did enjoy, however, was a royal visit that put the spotlight on our town and two particularly deserving institutions - Colmans fish and chips and the Volunteer Life Brigade.
Her Majesty slipped into Colmans Seafood Temple to help celebrate 100 years since the family opened their first shop on Ocean Road.
Five generations of Ords (no relation by the way) have run the family business and this royal visit was another catch of the day for this well-loved institution.
And this is where we hold our hands up to a glaring error on our front page. We said the princess was ‘greeted by the five generations’. Doh! Apologies all round (mistakes do happen) though we were rather pleased with our headline: Her Royal Fry-ness!
Inside, we’re happy to report that Princess Anne was able to eat a meal of fish and chips without interruption from our photographer. My insider said she was particularly interested in the sustainability of the food she was eating. Being told it was good old fashioned fayre sourced from home pleased the princess no end.
After that she was whisked away to the headquarters of the South Shields Volunteer Life Brigade where she was greeted by flag-waving youngsters in true royal watcher style.
The princess was there as part of this life-saving organisation’s 160th anniversary celebrations and her visit gave them just the publicity they deserve and recognition for a job well done.
Whatever your views on the Royal Family, and one particular member has been doing them no favours of late, there is no doubting their pulling power. Our social media platforms were alive with chatter about the visit but most importantly, her tour shone a light on the brigade’s work and has hopefully done much to swell their coffers.
The brigade is a charity dependent on the generosity of others (they need £20,000 a year to keep running), so we trust the royal visit was a timely reminder for us to dig deep and help out.
And the answer to the burning question: red or brown? Well it was neither. Turns out the princess opted for tartare sauce with her fish and chips. You read it here first…