Anne Street

Named after Princess Anne in 1972 at the request of land developer Gregory Butler, Anne Street in Ferndale runs, appropriately enough, off Elizabeth Place. Anne visited New Plymouth two years later, so one hopes she was told about her street.

It was February 1974 and the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Charles were in the country to mark the celebration of New Zealand Day – renamed Waitangi Day in 1976 – which had just been made a public holiday. Anne and her first husband, Captain Mark Phillips, were part of the royal entourage.

The royals attended the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in Christchurch before heading to Wellington so the Queen could open Parliament on 4 February. The following day Anne and her husband, those “horse-loving newly-weds” as the papers described them, made a flying visit to Taranaki. They arrived at New Plymouth airport from Whanganui at 2.35pm, chatted to the waiting crowd then were driven to the Bowl of Brooklands where they mingled with yet more well-wishers before being treated to a variety concert until 4.10pm when they returned to the airport. Shops were closed for 45 minutes to allow workers a glimpse of the pair as they travelled along Devon Street.

Ten thousand residents came out to welcome the royal couple. Reporters noted Mark’s “jazzy panama hat” and paid the princess a rather backhanded compliment, saying she looked much “fresher, brighter, more personable” than they had expected. Security was tight, with police checking the route into town for bombs, but the brief visit went off without a hitch. The couple even had time to chat to members of New Plymouth’s Riding for the Disabled Association at the racecourse before enjoying 20 minutes of the concert.

No doubt many happy memories were made that sunny day, but a letter to the Taranaki Herald after the visit hinted at a slightly different perspective: “I am quite amendable to the city council sweeping the streets that Princess Anne and her husband were to drive along… [but] as a ratepayer I would like someone to sweep my street more often. I help to pay the cost and I feel my street deserves a visit once in a while.”

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.