DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 October 1941, Page 7

DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

RECENT VISIT TO GIBRALTAR. FRIENDLY CONTACT MADE WITH SPANIARDS. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, October 22. An official account of the Duke of Gloucester's recent visit to Gibraltar states that the programme of the visit omitted pracically no aspect of life on the rock or harbour. Each of the units of the garrison was inspected in turn, and his Highness paid a visit to all the principal units in the harbour. He contrived to make a complete tour of the dockyards, and spent a morning with the R.A.F., visiting the new aerodrome and slipway. Later in the week the civil defence services and hospitals were also inspected. During a tour on foot around the fortifications and the labyrinth of subterranean galleries, tunnels and caves, his Highness spoke with many of the expert tunnellers, including a ccntingt nr. from the Dominions. The happy relations which exist between Gibraltar and the neighbouring Spanish authorities was emphasised by the presence at a luncheon party given by the Governor in honour of the Duke of Gloucester of his Excellency General F. Barron Y. Ortiz, military governor of Algeciras, who was accompanied by the Consul-General for Spain. His Highness was also the guest of his Excellency Don Mario Pinics Y. Bayons, at a luncheon which ( took place at Algeciras. In the after-, noon he visited the country house of a prominent Spanish resident in the neighbourhood. A friendly atmosphere reigned throughout, and many people assembled on the roads and in the streets to give the Duke a friendly welcome as he drove back to the fortress. Cn Monday his Highness General Don Alfonso de Orleans Y. Borbon and his son, his Highness Don Ataulfo, took luncheon with the Duke at Government House. The Duke is the first member of the British Royal Family to visit Gibraltar since the King and Queen, then the Duke and Duchess of York, stayed a few days on their way back from Australia.