Queen to visit refurbished Old Vic during Bristol visit

DETAILS of the Queen's visit to Bristol for the first time in seven years have been made public.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are coming to the city next Thursday and will spend a full day in the South West.

Part of the tour will take in the recently refurbished and reopened Old Vic theatre.

The theatre underwent a multi- million-pound refurbishment after it was closed for 18 months and the Queen is to get a tour of the historic building and will also be treated to a special performance of its Christmas spectacular – Peter Pan.

The visit is one of the final public engagements of what has been an incredibly busy year for the Royal couple. The Queen has celebrated her Diamond Jubilee with a series of major events and also played a prominent role in this summer's Olympic Games.

Full details of the event are not being made public for security reasons but the royal couple are spending the whole day visiting various attractions and functions in Bristol.

The couple are arriving by Royal Train and the tour will include a visit to the Bailey Caravans factory in Ashton Vale.

The party will also take a tour of the M Shed museum and will attend a special lunch hosted by the city council.

A visit to a community centre in Hartcliffe is also on the agenda where she will meet staff before unveiling a plaque to mark the occasion.

During the visit she will meet a group of small business owners based at the centre along with staff and members of the public who use the centre.

Next week's visit to Bristol will be the first chance people in the city will get to play their own part in this year's royal celebrations.

As part of her Jubilee tour of the country in May the closest the Queen got to the city was Yeovil.

The 86-year-old has cut down on her public engagements this year due to her advancing years and Prince Philip, who is 91, has also been forced to cut back on his work and public appearances due to a series of health problems throughout the year.

The Duke missed half of this summer's jubilee celebrations when he was hospitalised as a result of a bladder infection.

The royal visit is also likely to be one of the first high-profile duties of Bristol's first ever elected mayor following yesterday's vote.

The new mayor will have the job of officially welcoming the monarch and her husband to the city for the day's events.

It will be only the third time in a decade that the Queen has come to the city with the last visit taking place more than seven years ago.

On her most recent trip to the Bristol area the Queen came to North Somerset and Knowle West but did not venture into the centre of Bristol.

Thousands of people are expected to line the streets and plans are already being put in place to make sure the event goes off with the minimum of disruption and congestion for the city.

Despite her age the monarch is still admired for her ferocious work ethic and over the last four weeks she has attended a series of events in and around the capital.

Her most recent state duties involved taking part in the Remembrance Sunday ceremonies.

The ceremony at the Cenotaph is still seen as one of the most important public events of the year in the Royal Household.

Her duties have included hosting a state banquet for the visiting Indonesian president and an unveiling of a new stained glass window in central London to mark her Diamond Jubilee.

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