Liz And Phil Have Knees Up For John’s 500th

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will pay a visit to Cambridge next week to open new labs and celebrate St. John’s 500^th anniversary.

While most of the Royals will be busy preparing for Prince William and Kate Middleton’s marriage, Buckingham Palace today announced that the Queen and Prince Philip have found time to squeeze in a visit to Cambridge on Wednesday 27^th to do some ceremonial cake cutting and plaque unveiling.

The pair are no strangers to Cambridge. The Duke is the Chancellor of the University, and the pair visited in 2009 to take part in the University’s 800^th birthday celebrations.

“Reckon we can wrangle some tickets to John’s May Ball?”

The visit a week on Wednesday will start with a quick tour of the new £82 million Sainsbury’s Laboratory for Plant Sciences, located in the University’s Botanical Gardens. After the tour the Queen will unveil a plaque to mark the official opening of the labs.

The Queen and the Duke will then head to St. John’s College, where they will have a quick ‘walk about’, according to the official announcement.

After lunch in the Combination room, the Royals will then head to the College’s Quincentenary garden party on the backs, where around 1,000 students, staff and Fellows will be waiting. Not ones to miss an opportunity for pomp and grandeur, the national anthem will be played to mark their arrival and Johnians will probably sing along.

A ‘select group of Fellows, junior members and staff’ will then get to meet the Queen and Prince Philip before the Queen cuts the cake. Topics of conversation could include Kate Middleton’s number and whether they’ve seen the T-Mobile video where they all dance.

The whole visit will be over 3pm, when the Royals will be whisked away in their car.

A Cambridge spokesman said: “The University is looking forward to welcoming the Queen back, accompanied by the Chancellor on one of his last visits before he steps down from the role.”

Prince Philip announced last November that he’d be stepping down as Chancellor of the University.

Bex Xiao, a 2^nd year NatSci from St. John’s told The Tab: “I really hope [the Queen] will mingle with the public and the Johnians, especially the undergraduates. She’s literally scheduled to be there for 45 minutes – just cutting the cake and getting out of there.”

Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of King Henry VII, founded St. John’s in 1511, and the Queen’s visit ensures that the royal connection lives on.

The highlight of the Royal tour will be the recently restored remains of the medieval chapel in first court, the oldest part of St. John’s. Renovations on the site have been underway for months to ensure the remains would be ready for the royal visit.