Countess of Wessex to make historic visit

Britain’s Countess of Wessex is set to make the first royal visit to Shaftesbury in Dorset in five centuries.

The 50-year-old royal is to visit the Trinity centre – a charitable trust – on Wednesday, September 23rd, when she will hear about efforts to refurbish the centre and make it available for use by the whole community, the Bournemouth Echo reports.

What’s more, the countess will meet with representatives of the various groups which already use the centre, including Scouts, Cubs, Beavers, Guides, Brownies and Rainbows.

Allied to this, the wife of Prince Edward will be given a tour of the 19th century building and learn about the town’s Snowdrop Festival from Pam Cruickshank, its founder.

Meanwhile, the countess admitted last year that she took inspiration from Britain’s Queen Elizabeth and they way she deals with her royal duties.

She said: ”It doesn’t matter how tired you are – carry on.

”In the early days, I used to rush around as quickly as I could, but when you observe the Queen, she does things in such a measured way, and I hope I’ve learnt to try not to bounce into the room, but do things in a slightly more elegant way.

”The art of talking meaningfully is one that has to be learnt.

”It’s hard to make people feel that the conversation you’ve had with them was worthwhile, but the Queen is very good at that – she makes everybody feel very special.”