As briefly reported in the July edition of THE LIFE-BOAT, The Duke of Windsor, who died on 28th May, 1972, was for many years actively associated with the R.N.L.I., especially between 1919 and 1936 when he served as President of the Institution.

His first contact with the life-boat service came in March, 1911, when, as the young Prince Edward, he and Prince Albert, later King George VI, were sent to Newquay in Cornwall, to recover from an attack of measles. On 16th March they both inspected the Newquay lifeboat and then witnessed the spectacular launch of the boat down the steepest lifeboat slipway in the country. Later that year, on 13th July, he was invested as Prince of Wales at Caernarvon.

In 1919 he became President of the R.N.L.I.

and the next year a scheme was started in South Wales to raise money to buy two motor lifeboats to be named after him. In September, 1922, the first of them, the Prince David, was sent to her station at Barry Dock. The second, the Edward, Prince of Wales, followed in May, 1924, and was stationed at the Mumbles. Also in 1920, the Prince visited Swansea and during his tour the crew of the Mumbles life-boat acted as guard of honour.

Then in 1921, on 28th April, the Prince ofWales presided over his first R.N.L.I, annual general meeting. At that meeting he presented the gold medal for gallantry to Coxswain John Howells of the Fishguard life-boat for the rescue of seven men from the Dutch schooner Hermina on 3rd December, 1920. He also presented medals to the other members of the life-boat's crew.

At that same meeting he announced the formation of the ladies' life-boat guild and later expressed a wish that one day he might have an opportunity to go to sea in a life-boat, a wish that was to be granted less than a month later.

For on 21st May, 1921, while on a tour through his Duchy of Cornwall, he visited the Isles of Scilly.

After unveiling the war memorial in St.

Mary's, he inspected the new St. Mary's motor life-boat Elsie and talked with Coxswain J.

Lethbridge and his crew. The life-boat, with the Prince on board, was then launched down her slipway and cruised round for half an hour before landing him back at St. Mary's pier.

In 1923, with the R.N.L.I. then in its 100th year, the Prince gave his permission for all lifeboat days to be known as Prince of Wales Day.

In London it was held on 8th May that year and the Prince greatly helped in the success of the appeal by making personal visits to depots in the east and south-east areas.

On 30th May, 1923, the Prince of Wales paid his first visit to Bradford and the crew of the Humber life-boat acted as part of the guard of honour in the city square. The famous Humber coxswain, Robert Cross, was presented to the Prince, as were his crew, and the coxswain gave him a metal life-boat pincushion as a souvenir.

The R.N.L.I. was founded on 4th March, 1824, and to celebrate its 100th birthday, a centenary meeting was held in the Mansion House, London, on 4th March 1924, the Lord Mayor of London presiding. Many descendants of the then holders of the same office as those at the inaugural meeting were present. Also there was the Prince of Wales as President of the Institution.

During the meeting he presented the silvermedal to Coxswain John Innes and the bronze medal to Bowman James Innes, both of the Newburgh life-boat, and the bronze medal to Andrew Young, Acting Coxswain of the Cloughey life-boat. The Prince also presided and spoke at the centenary dinner on 2nd July.

This took place during the first-ever International Life-boat Conference, which was held in London. He was also present later that year at the centenary thanksgiving service at the Central Hall, Westminster, on December 14th.

During his years as President of the R.N.L.I.

the Prince of Wales named three new life-boats, the first being at Yarmouth, Isle of Wight. This station had only been formed in October, 1924, and the naming of the new life-boat was arranged to coincide with a tour of the island that the Prince was to make in July, 1926, the ceremony being held on the 22nd of that month.

The new Yarmouth motor life-boat was moored by the pier-head for the occasion and the motor life-boat from Bembridge and the pulling and sailing boat from Brooke were moored nearby.

With the breaking of a bottle of champagne over the bows of the new life-boat, the Prince named her B.A.S.P., after which he went on board to inspect the new boat. There he met and talked with the crew, after which he was rowed ashore.

On 23rd November, 1926, the first meeting of the general council of the ladies' life-boat guild was held at Hampdon House, the London home of the Duchess of Sutherland, president of the guild. The Prince of Wales and Princess Louise both attended the meeting.

The Prince visited Hastings on 6th April, 1927, to open the White Rock Pavilion and the new promenade. During his visit he went on board the Hastings life-boat where Coxswain J.

Plummer and his crew were presented to him.

The Prince was also made a member of the Winkle Club and presented with a golden winkle.

He presided over the R.N.L.I. annual general meeting again on 28th March, 1928, and later presented three gold medals for gallantry. These were awarded to Captain Owen Jones and 2nd Coxswain William Roberts of the Moelfre lifeboat for the rescue of three men from the ketch Excel on 28th October, 1927, and the second service clasp to the gold medal awarded to Coxswain Henry Blogg of Cromer in 1917, for the rescue of 15 men from the Dutch steamer Georgina on 21st November, 1927.

In his presidential address to the meeting, the Prince appealed to the shipping companies to help the life-boat service by giving a motor life-boat. As a direct result of that appeal, five motor life-boats were presented to the Institution by various shipping companies. These were the Princess Mary, Padstow, 1929-1952,given by the P. & O. Group of Companies; the White Star, Fishguard, 1930-1957, given by the Oceanic Steam Navigation Co.; the Cunard, St. Mary's, 1930-1955, given by the Cunard Co.; the Lady Kylsant, Weymouth, 1929-1930, Howth, 1930-1936, Wicklow, 1937-1956, given by the Royal Mail and the Union Castle companies; the Canadian Pacific, Selsey, 1929- June 1937 (when she was destroyed by fire at a shipyard while undergoing overhaul; a second Canadian Pacific was stationed at Selsey from 1938 to 1969). Both these life-boats were given by the Canadian Pacific Steamship Co.

The genuine personal regard the Prince had for the lifeboat service and its workers was made evident immediately after that annual meeting in 1928, when he paid a private visit to the Westminster Hospital to see Miss Hannah Danham who, though crippled and bed-ridden,was able to knit and had for many years worked for the life-boat cause. That same year, the Prince again toured many of the London flag day depots and talked with many of the helpers.

During a visit to Grimsby on 19th July that year, when he visited the docks and opened a new bridge, the Prince, 'speaking as President of the R.N.L.I, and as Master of the Fishing Fleet', mentioned the close connections between the fisher-folk and the life-boat service. He concluded by saying of the R.N.L.I.: 'It is a service which is indissolubly bound up with the fishing trade and I know that the two will always continue to support and rely each on the other'.

Also during 1928 he attended a special showing in London of the Citroen film The Black Journey, shown in aid of the R.N.L.I.

On 13th November, 1929, the Prince of Wales again paid an official visit to Bradford, this time to open the new buildings of the Chamber of Commerce. Despite a full programme of engagements, when he learned that the annual Bradford life-boat variety matinee was due to take place that same afternoon at the Alhambra, he made a point of including it in his visit. He stayed to see a number of the turns and made a speech thanking Bradford for its generous support over many years. Just over a week later, on the 21st, the Prince paid a special visit to Scotland to attend the Scottish National Life-Boat Assembly in Edinburgh and a life-boat ball in Glasgow on the same day.

At the assembly meeting a number of Scotland's outstanding coxswains were presented to him.

The second life-boat naming performed by the Prince of Wales was that of the Dover life-boat Sir William Hillary. Specially built for highspeed rescues in case of an aircraft disaster over the Channel, this boat was 64 feet long and had a top speed of nearly 18 knots. The Prince named the life-boat after the founder of the R.N.L.I. at a ceremony on 10th July, 1930, in the Wellington Dock, Dover.

On 7th November, 1930, the fourth annual life-boat matinee in London was held at the London Hippodrome. The Prince of Wales, as President of the R.N.L.I., was present and he received their Majesties King George V and Queen Mary, both of whom were patrons of the R.N.L.I. A variety programme was given and included such stars as Gladys Cooper, Beatrice Lillie and George Robey.

On 13th May, 1931, the Prince once again presided over the R.N.L.I. annual general meeting and later presented a number of medals for gallantry. Just over six weeks later, on 30th June, while on an official visit to Eastbourne to lay the foundation stone of the Princess Alice Memorial Hospital, the Prince again made a point of including a visit to the local life-boat station in his itinerary. There he inspected the life-boat and met the members of the crew.

The Port of Liverpool Branch organised a life-boat ball on 4th November, 1931, which was held in the Adclphi Hotel and which the Prince attended in his role as President of the Institution, a guard of honour being provided by the life-boat crews from New Brighton and Hoy lake.

The third and the last life-boat to be named by the Prince of Wales was the George Shee at Torbay and some 20,000 people attended the ceremony on 27th July, 1932. The day was observed as a local holiday in Brixham and district and the G.W.R. issued special cheap day tickets to Brixham from many of the neighbouring towns. The Prince named the life-boat and broke a bottle of Devonshire cider over her bows instead of the more traditional champagne.

He then boarded the boat and went for a short trip in her after meeting Coxswain W. Sanders and his crew.

The last public speech the Prince of Wales made on behalf of the life-boat service was when he presided over the annual meeting on 20th April, 1934. At that meeting he presented to Mrs. Patton, widow of Coxswain Robert Patton, of Runswick, the gold medal for gallantry, posthumously awarded to her husband for saving one man from the salvage steamer Disperser on 8th February, 1934. Among other medals he presented was a second service clasp to the silver medal awarded to Coxswain Henry Blogg of Cromer in 1932, for saving two men from the barge Sepoy on 13th December, 1933.

After the meeting the Prince again met Mrs.

Patton and spent some time talking with her.

The Prince's last appearance in connection with the R.N.L.I. was on 29th November, 1934, when he attended the gala performance of the film An Eastern Odyssey at the Plaza Theatre in London. This film showed the record of the Citroen Expedition which covered over 7,000 miles in tracked cars across Asia and was shown in aid of the R.N.L.I.

In 1935, the Prince again allowed all life-boat flag days to be known as 'Prince of Wales Day' throughout the country. He had intended presiding over the 1936 annual meeting, but his accession made that impossible and the father of the present Duke of Kent attended instead and presented the medals and awards.

As King Edward VIII he assumed the role of patron of the Institution, having served for 17 very active years as the President of the R.N.L.I.

We might remember him as the prince of lifeboats for his devoted attention to the life-boatmen of this country over so many years. The royal link, of course, is maintained by the Duke of Kent (see page page 427)..