Royal Visit

There was great disappointment at Arsenal when a strained back obliged Her Majesty the Queen reluctantly to cancel on doctors’ advice her engagement to officially open the club’s wonderful new £390 million Emirates Stadium.

Fortunately, the Duke of Edinburgh was happy to step in as ‘substitute’ and he clearly enjoyed meeting the directors, staff and players and seeing the facilities. His final duty was to unveil a commemorative plaque – a job for which, he claimed, he was extremely well unqualified, being second in experience only to the Queen herself.