Hillsborough Fort Guard bring dash of military style to Queen Camilla's visit
Of the people excitedly lining the streets to see Queen Camilla today, undoubtedly the most eye-catching were members of the Hillsborough Fort Guard.
Clad in bespoke uniforms designed to look like 18th century military outfits, the ‘castlemen’, as they’re known, cut one heck of dash as Her Majesty toured the streets.
Dating back to 1660, they’re the oldest private regiment or guard in continuous existence in the United Kingdom, and are proud of their ties to the culture and history of Royal Hillsborough village.
One of the castlemen, Warder Kevin Thomas MBE DL, met the queen in coffee shop Arthur’s of Hillsborough, something of a regular haunt for him.
“It’s a great honour to meet anybody from the Royal Family,” he told the News Letter, “but for the queen to take time out to visit some of the places in Hillsborough was a magnificent event. I thoroughly enjoyed saying hello to her – didn’t get a chance of a cup of coffee, but she was on very good form.”
Starting in June the fort guard run walking tours around Hillsborough very other Saturday, pointing out village gems to visitors. For Kevin, the coffee shop is absolutely one of them.
“It’s an absolute favourite of mine, and I can say the breakfasts they do on Saturdays are amazing,” he said. “I think they’d meet the queen’s standards.”
Area mayor Amanda Grehan said the queen’s visit had proved to be “a massive attraction” that left the village “thrilled”.
“My theme this year is ‘a city which sees everyone’ and today our queen saw everyone,” she stated.
“We had children from our special needs school performing [and] she met all of our local businesses.”