THE Prince of Wales, in later life the Duke of Windsor, made a habit of visiting areas that had been hard-hit by economic depression. In March 1933 he toured industrial centres in Scotland, beginning with Glasgow and touring Lanarkshire and Dundee before returning home. He was a popular figure, and the enthusiasm of the reception he received in Bellshill was typical. It “probably established a record,” wrote the Glasgow Herald, “in the number of flags and length of bunting displayed.”
As he made his way down one thoroughfare towards Harkness House, the “feeble efforts of a small band of Communists to raise a song about revolution was drowned in the thunderous cheers which greeted the Prince” as he entered the centre, which had been founded by the British Association of Residential Settlements. “One irresponsible youth standing on the roof of a building created great amusement by attempting to sing about a red flag while all the time he was holding high a White Ensign.” The Prince paid little heed.
He also visited two cottages (above) that were being reconditioned and adapted as a centre by local ex-servicemen. Present that day was a former Royal Marine who had been on the Physical Training instruction staff at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth when the Prince was a naval cadet there as a young man. The Prince recognised him immediately, and they chatted awhile.
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