Flags wave again as Wootton Bassett receives its Royal status

Residents lined the Wiltshire town’s High Street once again yesterday. But this time they were gathered not to mourn repatriated soldiers brought from nearby RAF Lyneham, but to hear the Princess Royal bestow the new name Royal Wootton Bassett on their town.

The Princess delivered the Letters Patent on behalf of the Queen, and was joined by Prime Minister David Cameron and new Defence Secretary Philip Hammond.

Royal Wootton Bassett is only the third town to be honoured with the “Royal” prefix, and the first to be awarded the accolade in more than a century.

The Princess said the town had “set an example that others wanted to follow”, adding: “This community has come together in the most extraordinary way.”

She said: “I am privileged to be allowed to add my thanks to those of Her Majesty the Queen and the whole country for the example you set in respecting with dignity the losses that this country’s operational responsibilities have forced upon us.”

RAF Lyneham was the base for repatriations from Iraq and Afghanistan between April 2007 and August this year.

Royal Wootton Bassett’s mayor, Paul Heaphy, said: “The Royal status is a privilege, yet it is received with sadness, mindful of the high price paid by our armed forces.

“This is not a day for celebration but one for commemoration, one of recognition, and one to mark the beginning of a new chapter for our town.”

A British soldier has been killed in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said yesterday. The soldier, from the 2nd Battalion, The Royal Gurkha Rifles, was shot dead in the Nahr-e Saraj region of Helmand province on Saturday.