Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal visits The Box
14 July 2021
The Box was thrilled to receive a visit by HRH The Princess Royal today, to officially mark its reopening and celebrate some of its award-winning exhibitions and displays.
During the visit Her Royal Highness met Lord Mayor Councillor Terri Bear, Interim Chief Executive Paul Brookes, representatives from its current sponsors and a number of staff who have been involved in the creation of the city’s major new museum, art gallery and archive.
Whilst on site Her Royal Highness had the chance to see the fourteen huge ship’s figureheads which are suspended from the ceiling in The Box’s main entrance. The impressive sculptures, which are on loan from the National Museum of the Royal Navy, underwent an ambitious two-year restoration project before they were installed at The Box and won the Restoration/Conservation Project of the Year at the 2020 Museum + Heritage Awards.
The Princess Royal also viewed The Box’s Active Archives and Media Lab galleries, ‘Wampum: Stories from the Shells of Native America’ exhibition and its major ‘Mayflower 400: Legend and Legacy’ exhibition, which won the British Guild of Travel Writers ‘Best UK and Ireland Tourism Project’ Award earlier this year.
Her Royal Highness also unveiled a new plaque to commemorate her visit and viewed a plaque dedicated to her father, His Royal Highness Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh which was originally installed in the former museum and art gallery.
Paul Brookes, Interim Chief Executive said:
It was an honour to welcome HRH The Princess Royal to The Box today. We are really proud of what we’ve achieved for the city and the South West with the creation of this fantastic cultural and heritage attraction and, now we’ve been able to successfully reopen, even more excited about its future. It’s been wonderful to have the opportunity to show her around and introduce her to some of the many people who’ve been involved in making this huge project a reality.