Court circular

BUCKINGHAM PALACE

9 July: His Excellency Mr Sione Kite was received in audience by The Queen and presented the Letters of Recall of his predecessor and his own Letters of Commission as High Commissioner for Tonga in London.

His Excellency was accompanied by the following members of the High Commission:

Mrs Mele Takapautolo (Counsellor), Miss Kaimana Aleamotu'a (First Secretary) and Mr Tevita Vaipuna (Third Secretary).

Mrs Kite was also received by Her Majesty.

Sir David Gillmore (Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs) was present and the Household-in- Waiting were in attendance.

Mr Peter Heap was received in audience by The Queen and kissed hands upon his appointment as Her Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at Brasilia.

Mrs Heap was also received by Her Majesty.

Mr David Sprague was received in audience by The Queen upon his appointment as British High Commissioner to the Republic of Sierra Leone.

Mrs Sprague was also received by The Queen.

The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh gave a Luncheon Party at Buckingham Palace for members of the Order of Merit.

The following had the Honour of being invited:

Professor Dorothy Hodgkin and Dr Luke Hodgkin, the Lord and Lady Zuckerman, Sir Isaiah and Lady Berlin, Sir George Edwards, the Lord Todd, the Lord Cheshire VC and the Baroness Ryder of Warsaw, the Reverend Professor and Mrs Owen Chadwick, Professor Sir Andrew and Lady Huxley, Sir Sidney and Lady Nolan, Sir Michael Tippett, Dr and Mrs Frederick Sanger, Sir Yehudi and Lady Menuhin, Sir Ernst and Lady Gombrich, Dr and Mrs Max Perutz, Dame Cicely Saunders, Professor the Lord and Lady Porter, the Baroness Thatcher, Dame Joan Sutherland, Professor and Mrs Francis Crick, Sir Edward Ford (Secretary and Registrar of the Order of Merit).

The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh were present at an Afternoon Party in the garden of Buckingham Palace given by the Central Council of Physical Recreation.

The Prince Edward was also present.

Her Majesty's Body Guard of the Yeoman of the Guard were on duty.

The Bands of the Welsh Guards and the Royal Anglian Regiment played selections of music during the afternoon.

The Duke of Edinburgh opened the sixth New Designers' Exhibition at the Business Design Centre, Upper Street, Islington Green, London N1, this morning.

Lieutenant-Commander Malcolm Sillars RN and Wing Commander Christopher Moran RAF were in attendance.

His Royal Highness, Patron, London Federation of Boys' Clubs, this evening attended a Reception at Goldman Sachs International Limited, 133 Fleet Street, London EC4, and later visited the Canterbury, Oxford and Bermondsey Club, 3 Webb Street, London SE1, the Lynn Athletic Club, Wells Way, London SE5, and the Ethelred Estate Community Youth Centre, Lollard Street, London SE11.

Brigadier Miles Hunt-Davis was in attendance.

9 July: The Princess Royal this morning visited Leighton Hospital, Crewe, in celebration of their Twentieth Anniversary and opened the new CAT Scanner.

Her Royal Highness was received by the Hon Michael Flower (Vice- Lord-Lieutenant of Cheshire).

The Princess Royal, Patron, the Quarry Bank Mill Trust Limited, afterwards opened the new Interpretive Gallery 'Waterforce' at Quarry Bank Mill, Styal, Wilmslow, Cheshire.

Her Royal Highness, Patron, the Butler Trust, this afternoon visited HM Prison Risley, Warrington Road, Risley, Warrington, Cheshire.

The Countess of Lichfield was in attendance.

The Princess Royal, Commandant-in-Chief, St John Ambulance and Nursing Cadets, attended the Safeway Summer Banquet at Brocket Hall, Welwyn, Hertfordshire.

Miss Victoria Legge-Bourke was in attendance.

9 July: The Prince Edward, Chairman of The Duke of Edinburgh's Award Special Projects Group, this evening held a Meeting at Buckingham Palace.

CLARENCE HOUSE

9 July: Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother this morning visited the International Flower Show at Hampton Court Palace.

The Lady Margaret Colville was in attendance.

Her Majesty visited the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Children, Hackney, this afternoon, and opened the 125th Anniversary celebrations in Haggeston Park.

The Lady Margaret Colville and Major Sir Ralph Anstruther Bt were in attendance.

KENSINGTON PALACE

9 July: The Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, this morning received the Secretary of the Duchy (Mr David Landale).

His Royal Highness this afternoon visited Halifax and was received by Her Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant for West Yorkshire (the Lord Ingrow).

The Prince of Wales visited Square Chapel, Winding Road.

Finally His Royal Highness, Patron, Eureka] the Children's Museum, opened Eureka] at Discovery Road.

Lieutenant-Commander Robert Fraser was in attendance.

9 July: The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon today visited Merseyside and was received by Her Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant for Merseyside (Mr Henry Cotton).

Her Royal Highness opened the Headquarters Building of the Personal Service Society in Liverpool.

The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon then visited the Liverpool Dental Hospital and, having been entertained to luncheon, opened the new extension.

Her Royal Highness later opened the Flower Festival at the Church of St Agnes with St Pancras, Liverpool.

The Lady Glenconner and Major The Lord Napier and Ettrick were in attendance.

9 July: The Duchess of Gloucester, Patron, the Royal Surgical Aid Society, this evening presented the 'Good Food in Old Age' Awards at Draper's Hall, Throgmorton Avenue, London EC2.

Mrs Howard Page was in attendance.

YORK HOUSE

9 July: The Duke of Kent this afternoon opened the Aidis Trust National Assessment Centre, Cabot Lane, Poole and was received by Her Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant for Dorset (The Lord Digby).

His Royal Highness, President, later visited the Royal National Lifeboat Institution Headquarters, Poole, and inspected the new Fast Afloat Boat. The Duke then visited the Army Trials Development Unit, Bovington Camp, Wareham, Dorset.

Captain the Honourable Tom Coke was in attendance.

The Duchess of Kent this afternoon took the Salute at the Royal Tournament at Earl's Court, London SW5.

Mrs David Napier was in attendance.

THATCHED HOUSE LODGE

9 July: Princess Alexandra today visited Greater Manchester and was received by Her Majesty's Lord- Lieutenant for Greater Manchester (Colonel John Timmins).

Her Royal Highness opened the Sale Grammar School at Trafford and, subsequently, opened the new Hydrotherapy Pool at the Bethesda School, Cheadle, Stockport.

The Lady Mary Mumford was in attendance.

ROYAL

ENGAGEMENTS

The Queen visits Clwyd. The Duke of Edinburgh, President, opens The Duke of Edinburgh's Seventh Commonwealth Study Conference, in Oxford; as Patron, visits the Thrombosis Research Institute, Emmanuel Kaye Building, London SW3. The Prince of Wales, President, International Business in the Community, holds a seminar on business and development at Highgrove House, Tetbury, Gloucestershire; and as Patron, Music in Country Churches, attends a recital by Anne Sofie von Otter at St Lawrence Church, Lechlade, Gloucestershire. The Princess Royal opens the Windsor Rose and Horticultural Society Summer Show, Home Park, Windsor. The Duke of Kent, Chairman of the United Kingdon Trustees, attends the opening of The Duke of Edinburgh's Commonwealth Study Conference in Oxford.

Changing of the Guard

The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment mounts The Queen's Life Guard at Horse Guards, 11am; 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards mounts The Queen's Guard, at Buckingham Palace, 11.30am, band provided by the Coldstream Guards.

Bands playing in

the Royal Parks

St James's Park, Royal Engineers Band, 12.30pm-2pm, 5.30pm-7pm ; Regent's Park, Harrow Concert Band, 12.30pm-2pm, 5.30pm- 7pm.