COUNCILLORS used a special meeting at the town hall last night to confirm that Greenwich will be known as the Royal Borough of Greenwich from next January.
The designation was conferred upon the borough by the Queen last year and will come into effect on January 3nd 2012.
Councillors voted to support a motion welcoming “that Her Majesty the Queen has announced her intention to confer Royal Borough status on Greenwich as part of her Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 2012.”
The Leader of the Council, Cllr Chris Roberts, paid tribute to the “royal history of patronage” in Greenwich which has “delivered tremendous legacies in terms of science, the arts and industry.”
He said he knew some would “bleat on about the cost” but added, “this is our history… we should be justly proud of the designation conferred upon us.”
He revealed in his speech that Her Majesty The Queen would be reopening the restored Cutty Sark next year and that the National Maritime Musuem, Royal Observatory and Queen’s House would, although retaining their individual identities, be known as the Royal Museums, Greenwich.
Deputy Leader of the Conservatives, Cllr Nigel Fletcher paid tribute to Cllr Roberts “excellent speech.”
The designation was an important symbol, he said.
“This is the head of state recognising something we in this chamber have always known: that we have in our corner of south east London something very special indeed.
“We are playing our part in passing on that recognition to those who deserve it most: the people we represent, the people who live and work here and who make the borough what it is. This truly is an honour for them.”
Speech by Leader of the Council, Cllr Chris Roberts (abridged)
It does give me great pleasure to move the resolution which will agree to change our name from next January to the Royal Borough of Greenwich.
We will at that time be two years since the announcement of our designation was made.
It does seem seem tonight to spend a few more minutes on what a significant honour this will be for the borough and for all those who live, work and visit here and a time to pause and reflect on what it is we hold in trust as councillors for the future.
It is a royal history, to be sure. A royal history of patronage which has delivered tremendous legacies in terms of science, the arts and industry.
And a place steeped in architecture from Wren, Hawksmoor, Inigo Jones through to Roger Foster and [Terry] Farrell.
Mr Mayor, I have no doubt there will be those who bleat on about cost and relevance but this is our history. It is what has made our borough. And we should be justly proud of the designation conferred upon us.
It is very difficult to talk about the royal history of the borough because you could literally spend all night on it and indeed still miss a lot out.
Eltham Palace dates back almost a thousand years. Henry V returned there from Agincourt with his French prisoners.
Henry VIII spent much of his childhood there, as indeed did is own childen, Mary and Elzabeth.
Charlton House was built in the reign of James I, initially to be a school for his son, who died early.
The Royal dockwards in Deptford and Woolwich were founded early in the 16th century by Henry VIII.
That naval tradition was reinforced when Elizabeth I knighted Frances Drake in Deptford after the Golden Hinde’s circumnavigation of 1588. The same sword was used by the present queen to knight Frances Chichester at the Royal Naval College in 1967.
The Royal Arsenal in Woolwich began in 1671 as the government’s main armament factory.
The Royal Regiment of Artillery was founded in Woolwich in 1716 and remained there until 2007 when it was subsequently replaced by the Princess of Wales Regiment.
Our history, therefore, has been defined by Royal presence or patronage.
It is, never-the-less, the centre of Greenwich where most of that royal history is borne out.
Henry V created the manor of Greenwich for his half brother Duke Humphrey of Gloucester and it was Humphrey who took on the NOGOE of the 15th century and enclosed Greenwich Park for hunting – the oldest and first of the Royal Parks.
It was he who began working on the Palace of Placentia which was then turned in to the Tudor palace of Greenwich by Henry VII and subsequently Henry VIII.
Henry VIII and the Tudors based themselves at Greenwich and indeed what might be called the greatest soap opera of English history took place in our borough.
His children, as I said earlier, were born in Greenwich and played at Eltham Palace, and it was at Greenwich, perhaps, where Elizabeth’s council were planning the defence of the country against the threat of the Armada in 1588.
The Stuarts continued this with James I remodelling the manor and commissioning what we now know as the Queen’s house by Inigo Jones, completed in the reign of Charles I for Henrietta Maria.
Charles II began the new palace, what we would now recognise as the Old Royal Naval College.
Charles II also founded the Royal Observatory in 1675-1676, evidence of the Royal patronage of the sciences. It remains today Britain’s oldest scientific structure.
The National Maritime Museum, the Queen’s House and the Royal Observatory will maintain their own distinct identified but they will from January 1st be called, collectively, the Royal Museums Greenwich.
More recently, George VI, the Queen’s father, in his first public act as King, three weeks before his coronation, opened the National Maritime Museum here in Greenwich accompanied by Queen Elizabeth and indeed the young Princess Elizabeth, the present Queen.
We can go on and on and on.
The Duke of Edinbugh took the title, voluntarily, of Baron Greenwich and they made their first joint visit here in 1948. The Duke received the Freedom of the Borough of Greenwich at that time and has remained in constant touch with Greenwich, as a trustee of the Maritime Museum, and indeed his leadership of the Cutty Sark project both in the 1950s and today.
Moving on and looking forward, we can anticipate next year there will be a exhibition in the National Maritime Museum dedicated to the royal river to mark the Diamond Jubilee and also the 75th anniversary of the opening of the National Maritime Museum.
We also have the Queen here to reopen the Cutty Sark.
In moving this [motion], Mr Mayor, it’s worthwhile, I think, just touching on the fact that we remain heirs to what is a great royal heritage.
It’s a heritage of science, industry and culture.
We are the heirs to scientists who gazed at and interpreted the stars from Greenwich, to the great navigators and sea farers who set sail from and returned to Greenwich. It is a rich, royal legacy.
In Greenwich we have sought to enhance the World Heritage Site through the Discover Greenwich project, Neptune Court, the Planetarium, the Sammy Ofer Wing, the Olympic Games, the restored Cutty Sark and our expanded use of the river.
How we are viewed for our stewardship will be for those who follow us. How well we have kept the precious heritage that we hold in trust and how well we have developed and improved the borough, cared for and enhanced this amazing place that we will soon call Royal Greenwich.
Audio of the speeches by Cllr Roberts and Cllr Fletcher can be be heard on 853
[…] Roberts revealed last year that the Queen would be visiting Greenwich to reopen the restored Cutty Sark and that the National […]