Freedom of the City ceremony on the Choristers Green. Inset: Prince Philip and Jeremy Nettle
ON OCTOBER 16, 2004, His Royal Highness Prince Philip came to Salisbury.
The occasion was the granting to Salisbury’s county regiment – the 1st Battalion the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire & Wiltshire Regiment – of Freedom of the City, which began with a formal civic ceremony outside the regiment’s museum at The Wardrobe, in the Cathedral Close.
The then 83-year-old Duke of Edinburgh, dressed in his uniform as colonel-in-chief of the regiment, was met at The Wardrobe by the Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire, Lieutenant General Sir Maurice Johnston, and was presented to regimental and local dignitaries and their wives, including colonel of the regiment General Kevin O’Donoghue, High Sheriff of Wiltshire Lieutenant Colonel James Arkell, Mayor of Salisbury Jeremy Nettle, chairman of Wiltshire county council Allan Peach, chairman of Salisbury district council Patrick Paisey and Salisbury MP Robert Key.