Arise Wootton Bassett 

Queen confers new 'Royal' name on Wiltshire town

 

Wootton Bassett has a new name it was announced today - Royal Wootton Bassett.

 

The town on the edge of Swindon, which has hosted the repatriation of hundreds of UK troops killed in Afghanistan, is to be officially renamed later this year.

 

Lining the High Street: Wootton Bassett has become synonymous with the repatriation of fallen soldiers during the Afganistan conflict

 

The news was confirmed by Prime Minister David Cameron, who made the suggestion to the Queen after what he desribed as Wootton Bassett's "deeply moving and dignified demonstrations of respect and mourning".

"I recently made a recommendation to Her Majesty the Queen, and I am very pleased today to announce, that Her Majesty has agreed to confer the title 'Royal' upon the town, as an enduring symbol of the nation's admiration and gratitude," he added today in Prime Minister's Question Time.

 

First Royal town for 100 years

 

It is the first time a town has been made 'Royal' since Queen Victoria honoured Tunbridge Wells in 1909.

 

Wootton Bassett has witnessed 156 repatriations pass through from RAF Lyneham since 2007, where each time hundreds of local people have joined grieving relatives in the main High Street to pay their respects.

  

With the impending closure of the Lyneham base, however, the last repatriation will take place in September.