A ROYAL Princess Diana

It’s hard to visit a town in the county without a claim to fame when it comes to the royal family. From childhood trips by the princess who would become Queen Victoria, war-time morale boosting jaunts by King George VI to a host of visits by the new gener

It is hard to imagine it is now more than 20 years since Diana, Princess of Wales, died in such tragic circumstances. But during her short life, she spent plenty of time in the county - most notably attending the exclusive West Heath Girls’ School near Sevenoaks as a child. It is now a special school - saved from closure in 1997 by Mohamad Al-fayed - father of Dodi Al-fayed, who died in the same car crash as Diana.

From 1983 to 1995 she visited the likes of Dover, Aylesford, Cranbrook, Deal and Sevenoaks. She opened Royal Victoria Place in Tunbridge Wells, the Paula Carr diabetic centre at Ashford’s William Harvey Hospital, Tenterden Leisure Centre and made several trips to Howe Barracks in Canterbury where the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment was based.

She once told the soldiers: “It has to be said that for a 31-yearold woman to have 2,500 men under her command is some feat.”

In 1992, she and her sons, William and Harry, all enjoyed a day at Chatham’s Buckmore Park karting circuit - an event pictured at the race track to this day.

ford’s St Mary’s Parish Church in 1987 saw a turn-out of all the major royals - with the exception of Princess Diana - to the church service and then back to Mersham, with crowds lining the route.

Sugar-hungry monkeys at Wingham wildlife park are no longer going bananas at meal-times after keepers cut the sweet stuff from their diets.

Instead of chowing down on fruit, the park’s primates are reaping the benefits of tucking into more vegetables, plants and insects.

Keepers say the change of menu has calmed the monkeys’ aggressive antics, as their hyperactivity and chance of piling on the pounds significantly lowers.

Weaning the animals off the sugar-loaded fruit isn’t proving to be an easy task for some, but head keeper Ruth Wilder says the healthy change is an allround bonus.

“Giving primates a lot of fruit can result in the same effect as giving a child a lot of sweets - hyperactivity, mood swings, obesity and tooth decay,” she said.

“The majority of the diets now consist of vegetables, specialised monkey pellets, marmoset gum, insects and different types of trees and plants.

“Some of our primates have been transitioning for a number of months now, so they could slowly get used to the change of having no fruit.

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Newsdesk: 01227 475985 www.kentonline.co.uk Thursday, March 7, 2019 Kentish Gazette (KG)