Princess Anne will attend a memorial service to mark the 100th anniversary of maritime tragedy in Hampshire on Monday (20.02.17) afternoon.
The 66-year-old royal – the daughter of Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip – will arrive at Hollybrook memorial in Southampton for around 2pm today when she and others commemorate the 600 South Africans who drowned off the coast of the Isle of Wight when boat they were travelling in departed Plymouth on February 21, 1917, according to The Daily Echo newspaper.
The SS Mendi was travelling towards Le Havre in France when it was accidentally hit by the much-larger cargo ship the SS Darro, in what has been widely regarded as one of the worst disasters in the British waters.
In total, 616 South Africans and 30 members of crew died during the collision – some straight away and others trapped below the decks – before the ship sunk 25 minutes later, while the SS Darro remained unscathed.
As well as the memorial, the South African High Commission have also arranged for a ship to depart Southampton and travel to the Isle of Wight to lay a wreath.
Meanwhile, the princess has certainly had a busy time recently as just last week she was in Newcastle where she met with a number of volunteers at Citizens Advice at City Library to thank them for all of their hard work over the years.
Anne – who has been patron of Citizens Advice since 1990 – said: "Thank you very much for your presentation and thank you for your support in terms of the way you use the space in the library here to bring so many people together and particularly to the benefit of the Citizens Advice Bureau and all those who come here. I think for them it’s a real joy to be able to see daylight have space and that’s also reflected in the sheer numbers of people coming here. So thank you very much for all your support for them, I appreciate it."
Princess Anne to attend memorial service
