On Thursday 9 February we were honoured to welcome the Prince and Princess of Wales on their first official joint visit to Cornwall as the new Duke and Duchess of Cornwall.
During the visit Their Royal Highnesses learnt more about the rich maritime heritage of Cornwall and we introduced them to the National Small Boat Collection. The Duke and Duchess first spent time in the Museum’s workshop where they met some of the team, including our volunteers, working on a number of boats in the collection. They were introduced to Kiwi, a 14ft sailing dinghy which was presented to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and The Duke of Edinburgh as a wedding present from the Royal New Zealand Navy.
Their Royal Highnesses then learnt from the team, along with students from Falmouth Marine School, how to add traditional copper rivets to another of the Museum’s boats. After the lesson, The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall had a go at riveting, which the team now refer to as the ‘royal rivet’.
The Duke and Duchess then tried their hand at sailing the boats on our Boat Pool with students from King Charles Primary School before heading onto Events Square to meet members of the public.
