A Speech by His Majesty The King at the Conferral of City Status, Doncaster

Ladies and gentlemen,

My wife and I are so delighted to be with you in Doncaster today as you celebrate this historic occasion.

The warmth of the welcome we have received today is all that we have come to expect in a county which is renowned for its sense of belonging and its feeling of community. It is something which all who know this wonderful part of the world will recognise instantly, and can never forget.

Here in Doncaster, you have, of course, a great deal of which to be proud: from your Roman origins two thousand years ago, to your crucial role in the Industrial Revolution and in the creation of this nation’s railway network, to the pre-eminent place you occupy in the horse-racing world.

For all those reasons, and many many more, it is entirely fitting that Doncaster should be chosen as one of the new cities created to celebrate The late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. We mark that occasion now in memory of my beloved mother’s lifelong dedication to all that is best about our country. She would, I know, be immensely glad that this honour should be conferred on a place where it is so richly deserved.

It is my hope that your new status will be taken not just as a mark of your community’s great achievements in the past, but also of your ambition for the future. Doncaster as a town has played its part in the life of the nation for two millennia, and I know that this very special community will approach the future as a city with the same enterprise, the same resilience, and the same good old Yorkshire spirit.  

So, ladies and gentlemen, nothing could give me greater pleasure than to offer you my most heartfelt congratulations as you celebrate your new-found status, and to wish you all every possible success for the next two thousand years!