Duchess of Gloucester to visit Hereford on Thursday

The Duchess of Gloucester

The Duchess of Gloucester will be making her way around Hereford on Thursday.

The wife of Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester will visit three city groups on her tour.

Stops on her trip include the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Group Training Association (HGTA)in Homer Road, the Wye Valley Group in Fordshill Road, Rotherwas and the Herefordshire Fostering at Hereford Town Hall.

HGTA is currently celebrating their 50th anniversary, having started in 1967. Since their inception, they have been successful at partnering with local manufacturing and commerce around the community.

HGTA is a not for profit training centre that offers apprenticeships in customer service, business administration, accountancy and engineering, as well development courses for adults.

Birgitte Eva Henriksen, the Duchess of Gloucester, was born on 20 June 1946 in Odense, Denmark, the youngest child of Asger Preben Wissing Henriksen and Vivian van Deurs. When her parents separated in 1966, Birgitte took her mother’s maiden name of van Deurs.

She was educated in Odense, and at finishing school in Lausanne, Switzerland, before arriving in Cambridge. It was in Cambridge that she met her future husband, Prince Richard of Gloucester, who was attending the University of Cambridge and reading architecture.

She returned to Denmark to pursue a three-year diploma in Commercial and Economic Studies, and returned to London in 1971, where she worked at the Royal Danish Embassy.

In February 1972, her engagement to Prince Richard was announced, and on 8 July, the couple were married in a low-key ceremony at St Andrew’s Church in Northamptonshire. It was such a quiet affair that the Queen didn’t attend, the media wasn’t invited, and the ceremony wasn’t televised.

The Duke and Duchess have three children: Alexander Windsor, Earl of Ulster (heir to the dukedom), Lady Davina Lewis, and Lady Rose Gilman; and six grandchildren. All of whom are in the line of succession.

The Duchess lives with her husband at Kensington Palace.

The Duchess of Gloucester has represented the Queen extensively on overseas tours. Her very first, in 1973, was to Mexico. She also attended birthday celebrations for King Olav of Norway that year.