Charles and Camilla to make Southend a city and meet the widow of fallen MP David Amess

Prince Charles will formally present Southend with the Letters Patent to grant the Essex seaside town city status Credit: PA

Prince Charles will formally grant Southend-on-Sea its city status today when he and Camilla visit the Essex resort on behalf of the Queen.

It will be the culmination of a campaign passionately supported by Southend's former MP, Sir David Amess, who was killed in October last year.

Southend was due to submit a bid to become a city in December as part of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations this year - but three days after the shocking killing of Sir David, the city bid was fast-tracked and the Queen granted permission.

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Charles will formally present the legal document which entitles the change of status to Southend’s mayor, Margaret Borton

The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall will present the necessary 'Letters Patent' at a council meeting which will mark the conferral of City status on Southend and the famous Essex seaside town will henceforth be a city.

Sir David Amess will also have the Freedom of the City posthumously bestowed upon him and the honour will be presented to his widow Lady Julia Amess.

Sir David was attacked at his constituency surgery in Leigh on 15 October 2021.

A 25-year-old man, Ali Harbi Ali from North London, has since pleaded not guilty at the Old Bailey to Sir David's murder.

The Prince and Duchess will also use their time in the new city of Southend to unveil a new train on the famous pier which will be named after Sir David.

At 1.33 miles long, Southend Pier is the world's longest pleasure pier and attracts as many as 75,000 visitors per month in the summer.

Southend Pier is the longest pleasure pier in the world Credit: PA

The new eco-friendly pier trains, which are battery powered, have replaced the existing diesel ones which have been running up and down the pier since 1986.

Charles and Camilla will travel to the end of the pier to meet staff who work there as well as those who operate the lifeboat and coastguard station in the Thames Estuary.

It will be a day when this Essex resort will look back on the appalling events of last year but will also look forward to how Southend-on-Sea can make the most of its new city status about which its former MP was so passionate.

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Listen to the Royal Rota: