By Robert Lalah, Staff Reporter
HRH Princess Anne greets students from several schools in St. Thomas during yesterday's visit to Princess Margaret Hospital in Morant Bay, St. Thomas. - Norman Grindley/ Deputy Chief Photographer
PRINCESS ANNE is no snoot! Neither does she lack courage. No sir! The British royal, who is currently in the island on an official three day visit, spent the day yesterday slumming it with the folk of violence-torn Jones Town and Wilton Gardens (Rema) in south St. Andrew, and with none of the condescending detachment that is sometimes associated with British Royalty.
She had to know she was safe, however. As if the dozens of gun-toting Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) officers who escorted her were not enough, the small group of burly eagle-eyed security personnel who accompanied her from England would have been more than eager to step in and save the day.
MAJESTIC MOTORCADE
The resplendently dressed princess made the day of residents of these communities, pulling them out of their small clustered homes and into the streets to watch the majestic motorcade pass by. The bespectacled princess beheld quite a spectacle as residents showed obvious signs of being caught off guard by the visit. One man stood in awe as the motorcade went by, his head covered in shampoo and his mouth full of toothpaste. He did not miss a beat, however, as the second he spotted the princess he smiled and went into a waving episode that went on long after the motorcade disappeared.
From her inner-city tour, Her Royal Highness was whisked away to the Half-Way-Tree Police Station for a tour of the facility and to meet with the officers there. Today, the princess will be visiting Portland Cottage in Clarendon and Spanish Town, St. Catherine.
