THE Royal School is very proud of having nearly 180 years of naval heritage to its name and to mark the school’s connection with the Royal Navy, it has recently been affiliated to HMS Diamond.

To celebrate the event year seven pupils took up an invitation to visit the ship in Portsmouth before the end of term enjoying a guided tour of the ship and meet with her officers and crew.

The officers proudly showed pupils the Royal School teddy on board which they had been given previously by Anne Lynch, principal of The Royal School.

Photographs taken on the visit will serve as a reminder when the ship goes on deployment to the Gulf for nine months.

The tour was followed by lunch on a passenger vessel and a tour of the harbour, before a tour and to learn of the work of HMS Hurworth, a Hunt Class Minehunter.

Edward Taylor-Gooby, from the Royal School who accompanied the children on the trip said: “It was the perfect opportunity for our Year 7s to make a personal connection to our affiliate ship, HMS Diamond, and meet some of the crew who will soon head off for a nine-month deployment. It is an exciting development in The Royal School’s strengthening of its naval links.”