Princess to attend private service to honour forgotten veterans

PRINCESS Anne will be making a flying visit to Matson in Gloucestershire tomorrow.

The Princess Royal will be attending a church service and having lunch before heading off to London.

According to the Court Circular the 72-year will be popping over from her home at Gatcombe Park to meet forgotten veterans of a forgotten campaign. But the Service of Remembrance to commemorate the 55th Anniversary of the Final Withdrawal from Aden is a private affair for veterans and their families.

Members of the public cannot attend the service at St Katherine’s Church, Matson Lane, to honour veterans from all over the country.

Around 70 people are expected to attend. Afterwards Princess Anne is expected to join them for lunch at the Best Western Robinswood Hotel.

Church leaders and hotel bosses are staying tight lipped about the visit which they say will be a private affair.

The ceremony will mark the day 3,500 men of the British garrison in Aden, now Yemen, were evacuated. The last outpost of the empire crumbled following an insurgency against British rule in the south of the Arabian Peninsula. The last aircraft left at 1.30pm on November 29, 1967.