00:00The Hospital of Sir John Hawkins has been housing veterans and civilians in Chatham
00:04for more than 400 years, founded by the Royal Charter of Queen Elizabeth I in 1594.
00:11And today dignitaries from the Royal Naval Association as well as figures from across
00:15Medway welcomed Her Royal Highness Princess Anne, the patron of the charity for her first
00:20royal visit.
00:22Very generously, His Majesty offered us the Princess Royal as royal patron and of course
00:30Her Royal Highness graciously agreed to actually act as our royal patron and that's where we
00:36are today.
00:38Now, the Hospital of Sir John Hawkins was founded in 1594 and it's had several royal visits since.
00:44In 1964, when the Ministry of Defence was formed, the Lord High Admiral went to the monarchy
00:49with Queen Elizabeth II along with the Lord Wardensy, at that time it was the Queen Mother.
00:53And in 1984, the Queen Mother reopened the hospital after it had some refurbishments and in 1994,
00:59the late Queen Elizabeth II celebrated the 400th anniversary of the charity.
01:04And today's visit is a very special one with Her Royal Highness Princess Anne now being the
01:09patron as she raised the ensign.
01:11But what exactly does the ensign mean?
01:13That the white ensign has been flown here.
01:17The white ensign obviously doesn't fly just anywhere, it has to have a very close connection.
01:24There are 16 warranted sites around the country, we've just been added to that.
01:29It symbolises naval authority and sovereignty and can only be flown on Royal Navy ships or
01:34on land with special permission.
01:36Plenty of familiar faces were at the Orms House to meet Her Royal Highness and to celebrate
01:41the raising of the ensign.
01:43I had a really nice chat with her, she was asking me how long I've been in the area and
01:47a bit about my background.
01:48I think she was running a little bit late because she was so keen to speak to so many people,
01:52which is always a lovely sign.
01:54So, no, we had a really good chat.
01:56It was lovely to meet her in person for the first time.
01:58I think she's probably my favourite Royal, she's quite no-nonsense and very hardworking,
02:03so it was a delight to meet her.
02:05It's a great honour and a great privilege.
02:07We're delighted to have the Princess Royal here.
02:10We have arms houses in Medway, we do look after our military and it's a great honour to
02:15have her come and recognise that in us.
02:18With Her Royal Highness being given the patronage after the passing of the late Queen Elizabeth
02:22II, it's likely she'll return to the site of the oldest Royal Navy Arms House in the country,
02:28putting Medway on the map for receiving royals as well as raising flags.
02:32Finn McDermid for KMTV in Medway.
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