Thanet's Royal Connections

Saturday 6 May 2023 saw the Coronation of Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla. To mark this historic occasion we take a look back through history at the royal connections, visits that have taken place and memorials celebrating these occasions.

After her marriage celebrations to Frederick V, Princess Elizabeth Stuart (the daughter of James I) travelled to Margate with her husband where they boarded the Prince Royal ship, and set sail for the continent on 25th April 1613.
King William III (William of Orange 1689–1702) often stayed at the original Quex Mansion in Birchington, whilst awaiting a favourable wind to take him across the Channel from Ramsgate, Kent.
Royal York Mansions, Margate was built as the home for Prince Frederick ‘The Grand Old Duke of York’ second son of King George III in 1788 and used as his holiday retreat. It was later turned into a hotel, before closing in 1909 and the building divided into flats.

Royal York Mansions, Margate

East Cliff Lodge in King George VI Park was built around 1800. It was used in 1803 as a summer residence of Queen Caroline and then the Princess of Wales. It later became the home of Admiral Lord Keith and in 1815 it was sold to a Russian merchant Patrick Cummings, who later leased it to Marquis Wellesley who was the brother of the Duke of Wellington.
In 1829 the widowed Duchess of Kent and her young daughter Victoria lived at Pierremont Hall, Broadstairs, for three months. Whilst on this seaside holiday, the young Princess met the infamous local smuggler Joss Snelling. When Victoria went on to Broadstairs beach she had her own white Donkey, ‘Dicky’, a present from the Duke of York.

Pierremont Hall, Broadstairs. Credit Debbie Spalding Photography

During Princess Victoria's stay in Ramsgate with her mother in 1835, to recuperate from illness, Sir Moses Montefiore opened the grounds to East Cliff Lodge and presented her with a golden key to a private door of the grounds.
Ramsgate harbour was bestowed the title ‘Royal’, in 1821 by King George IV, following a visit to the town and in honour of the hospitality he received. (You may come across him on a Ramsgate Costumed Walk)
Margate Clock Tower was built in 1887 to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee and was handed over to Margate Corporation on 24th May 1889

Ramsgate Royal Harbour

Broadstairs Bandstand was opened in 1892 by Princess Louise, daughter of Queen Victoria.
Broadstairs Clocktower, above Viking Bay beach was built to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897
In 1904 Royal Victoria Pavilion on Ramsgate seafront was opened by Queen Victoria's daughter Princess Louise
It is said that Queen Victoria’s daughter Louise had a house in Kingsgate for many years
The Duke of Cornwall (future Edward VIII and then Duke of Windsor) opened Ramsgate’s Royal Esplanade stretching from Government Acre (by the West Cliff lift) down to the recreation park in 1926

Broadstairs Bandstand

George V Avenue was created by Margate Town Council to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of the region of King George V on 6th May 1935.
Prince George, Duke of Kent on 1st June 1939 opened the first section of Ramsgate Tunnels, a unique civilian wartime tunnel complex set in a Victorian railway tunnel provided shelter for over 1000 people during WWII.
King George VI Memorial Park in Ramsgate is named in honour of Queen Elizabeth II’s father. It is here you will find the Italianate Glasshouse.
The Queen visited Margate and Ramsgate on 16th July 1993.
North Foreland Lighthouse was the last Trinity House lighthouse to be automated; the occasion was formally marked at a ceremony presided over by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh in 1998 in his capacity at the time as Master of Trinity House.
The Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh visited Turner Contemporary, Margate Old Town and Lifeboat station on 11th November 2011.
The Duchess of Cambridge visited Turner Contemporary and Margate on 11th March 2015.

King George VI Memorial Park, Ramsgate