His Royal Highness, The Duke of Gloucester, visits the Ancient House Museum in Thetford

Royal fans were in a frenzy in Thetford on Friday as a royal helicopter landed in the town for a very special event.

Rumours circulated about who had landed on Barnham Cross Common and was making a special visit to the town.

His Royal Highness, The Duke of Gloucester, was in town visiting the Ancient House Museum, in Whitehart Street, to celebrate 100 years since it opened its doors.

The museum’s longest-serving curator, Oliver Bone, welcomed His Royal Highness alongside His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant, Lady Dannatt.

The tour of the museum included viewing a recently unveiled display relating to Maharajah Duleep Singh, the last Sikh ruler of the Punjab who lived in nearby Elveden Hall, talking to some of the site’s volunteers as well as meeting learning officer Melissa Hawker and young people from the museum’s after-school THC youth group.

After the tour, His Royal Highness then cut the first slice of a 100th birthday cake to celebrate the museum’s centenary.

Councillor Robert Kybird, chairman of Breckland Council’s area museums committee, said: “The museum is very much at the heart of the town’s history and we were delighted that the hard work of our volunteers, museum friends and members of our thriving youth group was recognised through this royal visit. I was also pleased to welcome HM Lord Lieutenant for Norfolk, The Lady Dannatt, on this her first visit to Ancient House.”

The visit to Ancient House followed on from a morning event in King’s Lynn where His Royal Highness was shown around a new exhibition Surviving the Railway: Memories of Far East Prisoners of War.