MAY I correct your statement that the visit of Prince Philip, Duke of

Edinburgh, to Devizes on May 4 will be his first to the town.

In fact his last visit was 48 years ago. I was present on that occasion time marches on!

The occasion was the bicentenary of the old Wiltshire Regiment (Duke of Edinburgh's) of which he was the Colonel-in-Chief.

He came by helicopter to the regimental depot at Le Marchant Barracks, London Road, where he was welcomed by the Colonel of the Regiment, Major General Aubrey Coad, and spent the day watching recruits in various aspects of training.

Incidentally, the regiment's title was not adopted from the present Duke but from Prince Alfred, the second son of Queen Victoria, who died aged 56 in 1900.

The badge of the Wiltshire's was a combination of the Maltese Cross and the Duke of Edinburgh's coronet and cipher.

T GAYLARD

Devizes