THE Princess Royal joined descendants of Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his team for a ceremony marking the centenary of their doomed expedition to the Antarctic.
She joined family members and descendants of the 1912 Terra Nova Expedition team for a rededication ceremony at the National Scott Memorial in Plymouth.
A lone bagpiper played a lament as the Princess, in a royal blue dress, joined Nicola Starks, Scott's granddaughter, and Philippa Foster-Back, granddaughter of expedition geologist Frank Debenham, to lay wreaths at the memorial in the city where Scott was born and raised.
She then attended a reception with other descendants of the ill-fated group, local dignitaries and members of re-enactment group Arctic Adventurers.
The team of five led by Scott was famously beaten to the pole by Norwegian Roald Amundsen. They arrived 33 days after Amundsen on January 17, 1912, and died on their return journey the following March.
The memorial, unveiled in 1925, features bronze portrait medallions of Scott and the other members of the South Pole party, Dr Edward Wilson, Captain Lawrence Oates, Lieutenant Henry Bowers and Petty Officer Edgar Evans.
A new plaque was added to the memorial at Mount Wise to mark the centenary.
Ms Starks said laying a wreath in memory of her grandfather in front of the memorial had been a poignant moment.
"Laying the wreath and thinking I felt I had to look up at the statue on top, it was quite moving," she said, adding it was a memorial for all the members of the expedition rather than just its leader. "It is an achievement, an incredible achievement, to be the leader of determined people who will risk their lives and lose them, unfortunately."
She said the team should be equally remembered for the scientific side of their journey.
Paul Davies, of the Plymouth branch of the Scott 100 society, said the memorial was built using £12,500 raised via a "penny subscription" from members of the public, money also used to care for the explorers' dependants.
It was originally planned for London, but after a lot of wrangling it was presented by the Lord Mayor of London to the people of Plymouth, he said.
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