Prince of Wales Visits
in 1921
The Prince of Wales (the future King
Edward VIII) arrived in Aden in HMS Renown on his way to
India on 12 November 1921. Renown was escorted into Aden
harbour at nine in the morning by the Aden Flight RAF.
As the ship passed Fort Morbut the Prince of Wales
received the first of no less than five (or perhaps even
six) royal gun salutes he would receive that day. Like
her predecessor, Renown had been fitted out with
accommodation suitable for her to be used as a ‘royal
yacht’; she also carried a royal barge in which the
Prince of Wales came ashore, again escorted by the Aden
Flight.
The second royal salute, also from
Fort Morbut, was fired at 0930 as the Prince of Wales
stepped ashore at the Landing Stage, where he inspected
a guard of honour from HMS Comus before walking through
the Memorial Hall to inspect guards of honour furnished
by 2nd Battalion the Royal Fusiliers and the
2nd/19th Punjabis. There followed
the presentation of the senior civil and military staff
to the prince.
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HMS
Renown was built to replace a battlecruiser sunk
at Jutland. She had a displacement of around 28,000 tons
and because, like the battlecruisers lost, she was
lightly armoured she had a top speed of over 32.5 knots.
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Prior to this visit
Hormusjee
Cowasjee Dinshaw (by now already MVO OBE) had again
offered the use of one of his horse-drawn state
carriages, but this was politely turned down by the
Resident – a modern prince should use a more modern form
of transport. So after the ceremonial in front of the
Memorial Hall was completed the Prince of Wales was
driven to the Residency where he was received by a
further guard of honour, this one furnished by the Royal
Garrison Artillery. In the residency he received the
four main sheikhs, including The Abdali (the Sultan of
Lahej) and the Amir of Dhala. The motorcade then left
for the Crescent, on the way pausing to hear the
children of the Franciscan and other schools sing the
National Anthem, before motoring round the Crescent to a
flagstaff. There followed another royal salute by the
troops on parade, their inspection and the presentation
of decorations.
At 11am the Prince of Wales entered the shamiana where he met members of the Aden community.
Forty-five minutes later he was driven to the
Prince of
Wales Pier to then go on board Renown for lunch. In the
afternoon he visited Crater and the tanks. In Crater he
visited a local school where children from the
Anglo-vernacular and Jewish schools sang the National
Anthem as he arrived, the music teacher having padded
out the group with a number of children who didn’t know
the words, he having been careful to spread these
amongst those who did.
The Prince of Wales visits
the Jewish Community
and is received by Banin Menahem Moshe, the 2nd
president of the Jewish community. Pictured In front of
the Jewish Boys' School in Crater, which was later
burnt in the 1947 riots.
As he arrived at the
tanks 16 Pack
Battery Royal Artillery fired a royal salute and the
Prince of Wales inspected a guard of honour of the
newly-raised 1st Yemeni Infantry. Having seen
the tanks he was driven back to the pier to board his
barge to take him out to Renown, escorted by the Aden
Flight. No doubt there was another royal gun salute or
two before he sailed away.
What an unimaginative programme, with
far too much ceremonial! He did at least get to meet 20
British veterans of WW1 who were no longer serving, but
were now living in Aden. Since there was a photographer
in the royal entourage it is somewhat surprising that
photographs of the visit seem difficult to find.
