The Prince of Wales Visits Aden in 1921
The Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VIII) arrived in Aden in HMS Renown on his way to India on 12 November 1921. Renown was escorted into Aden harbour at nine in the morning by the Aden Flight RAF. As the ship passed Fort Morbut the Prince of Wales received the first of no less than five (or perhaps even six) royal gun salutes he would receive that day. Like her predecessor, Renown had been fitted out with accommodation suitable for her to be used as a ‘royal yacht’; she also carried a royal barge in which the Prince of Wales came ashore, again escorted by the Aden Flight.
The second royal salute, also from Fort Morbut, was fired at 0930 as the Prince of Wales stepped ashore at the Landing Stage, where he inspected a guard of honour from HMS Comus before walking through the Memorial Hall to inspect guards of honour furnished by 2nd Battalion the Royal Fusiliers and the 2nd/19th Punjabis. There followed the presentation of the senior civil and military staff to the prince.
HMS Renown was built to replace a battlecruiser sunk at Jutland. She had a displacement of around 28,000 tons and because, like the battlecruisers lost, she was lightly armoured she had a top speed of over 32.5 knots.
Prior to this visit Hormusjee Cowasjee Dinshaw (by now already MVO OBE) had again offered the use of one of his horse-drawn state carriages, but this was politely turned down by the Resident – a modern prince should use a more modern form of transport. So after the ceremonial in front of the Memorial Hall was completed the Prince of Wales was driven to the Residency where he was received by a further guard of honour, this one furnished by the Royal Garrison Artillery. In the residency he received the four main sheikhs, including The Abdali (the Sultan of Lahej) and the Amir of Dhala. The motorcade then left for the Crescent, on the way pausing to hear the children of the Franciscan and other schools sing the National Anthem, before motoring round the Crescent to a flagstaff. There followed another royal salute by the troops on parade, their inspection and the presentation of decorations.
At 11am the Prince of Wales entered the shamiana where he met members of the Aden community. Forty-five minutes later he was driven to the Prince of Wales Pier to then go on board Renown for lunch. In the afternoon he visited Crater and the tanks. In Crater he visited a local school where children from the Anglo-vernacular and Jewish schools sang the National Anthem as he arrived, the music teacher having padded out the group with a number of children who didn’t know the words, he having been careful to spread these amongst those who did.
As he arrived at the tanks 16 Pack Battery Royal Artillery fired a royal salute and the Prince of Wales inspected a guard of honour of the newly-raised 1st Yemeni Infantry. Having seen the tanks he was driven back to the pier to board his barge to take him out to Renown, escorted by the Aden Flight. No doubt there was another royal gun salute or two before he sailed away.
What an unimaginative programme, with far too much ceremonial! He did at least get to meet 20 British veterans of WW1 who were no longer serving, but were now living in Aden. Since there was a photographer in the royal entourage it is somewhat surprising that photographs of the visit seem difficult to find.
The Prince of Wales was a keen smoker and the Britannia Anonymous Society, perhaps hoping for a ‘for appointment to’ offered to supply him with some of their best Egyptian cigarettes. This was politely refused but the authorities did accept the other half of the Society’s offer: 100,000 cigarettes to be divided amongst the soldiers who had been on parade and another 50,000 for the crew of HMS Renown.
The Prince of Wales visits the Jewish Community and is received by Banin Menahem Moshe, the 2nd president of the Jewish community. Pictured In front of the Jewish Boys' School in Crater, which was later burned in the 1947 riots.
