14 royal connections you didn’t know Bristol had

As the country prepares for the royal wedding between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, we take a look into some of the ways in which Bristol has been linked with the royals through the centuries.

1. “ The fairest, goodliest, and most famous parish church in England” was how Queen Elizabeth I described St Mary Redcliffe during a visit in 1574. The Tudor queen also granted housewives the right to dry their washing on Brandon Hill.

2. The white marble statue of Queen Victoria on College Green was built with a glass time capsule incorporated into the plinth, which was uncovered in 2004.

3. A long-lost reel of film, showing crowds turning out to see Princess Margaret’s Bristol visit in 1949, was found by sisters Janet Darlison and Barbara Nash from Bradley Stoke in February this year.

4. King George V granted the royal title to the Royal West of England Academy, Bristol’s first art gallery, in 1913. He was also patron of the gallery during his reign.

5. Kingswood was literally the King’s woodland during Saxon and Norman times, with the royal hunting estate extending as far as Filwood. King Edmund was murdered in the woods near Pucklechurch in 945 AD.

6. King Henry VIII and second wife Anne Boleyn stayed at Acton Court, a Tudor manor house just north of Bristol, whilst touring the West Country in 1535. They met local noblemen, including the then-mayor of Bristol, Thomas White, who was also the alderman of St John on the Wall, and is buried in the crypt beneath the old city walls.

7. Eugénie de Montijo, wife of Prince Louis Napoléon – later Napoléon III, France’s last Emperor – lived as a girl on Royal York Crescent in Clifton with her sister Pala, having been sent to Bristol to finish their education. Faced with harsh discipline and terrible weather, they attempted to stowaway on a ship bound for India but were caught and returned to the school by the headmistress.

8. The last princes of Gwynedd, the royal line of Wales, were imprisoned for life in Bristol Castle after Edward I’s conquest of Wales and execution of their dad in 1283.

9. Street artist Incwel – not Banksy – immortalised Queen Elizabeth II as David Bowie for a huge piece on Park Row to commemorate the 2012 jubilee.

10. Local Facebook page Wills Meme-orial Building made national headlines when their spoof event ‘Prince Harry’s Stag Do’ went viral in late 2017.

11. Bristol was a key strategic port during the English Civil War (1642-1651), and Royal Fort House became the western headquarters of the Royalist Cavalier army under Prince Rupert, nephew of King Charles I. The prince was accompanied to Bristol by his dog, Boy, and a pet monkey, who were reportedly able to shapeshift and disguise themselves behind enemy lines.

12. Bristol pie chain Pieminister claims Queen Elizabeth II amongst their customers.

13. Albert II, Prince of Monaco, undertook an exchange programme at the University of Bristol in 1979.

14. In a ceremony on the Downs on November 8 1917, King George V posthumously awarded Second Lieutenant Hardy Falconer Parsons with a Victoria Cross. 100 years to the day later, a blue plaque was unveiled on his former home in Redland.