20 March 2017
Women's Royal Naval Service Benevolent Trust
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Princess pays tribute to Navy’s ‘pioneering’ breed of female sailors.

Pictured is HRH The Princess Royal - Chief Commandant for Women in the Royal Navy opens the exhibition at the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth. HRH The Princess Royal officially opened the exhibition ‘Pioneers to Professionals: Women and the Royal Navy’ exhibition at the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard on the afternoon of 8 March 2017, officially launching the WRNS100 centenary celebrations. The exhibition opening was attended by current serving Royal Navy personnel, WRNS veterans, including members of the WRNS100 Project Team and museum officials who were introduced to The Princess Royal as she toured the exhibition. The opening took place on International Women’s Day, (8 March 2017) coinciding with a Royal Navy ship visit to London where HMS St Albans presence helped to mark the achievements of women in today’s Royal Navy during a number of engagements in the capital. ‘Pioneers to Professionals’ champions the early pioneers who fought for equal rights in the Royal Navy and tells the story of how women’s role and service in the navy has changed. The exhibition celebrates women’s contribution to the Naval Service over the last 250 years. Victoria Ingles, curator of the exhibition, said: “The establishment of the Women’s Royal Naval Service 100 years ago was an important milestone in the employment of women within the Royal Navy. Their achievements undoubtedly laid the foundations for the integrated naval service that we have today but it is also important to celebrate contribution of earlier female pioneers who lived and worked on naval ships long before this.” The Royal Navy is supporting a number of WRNS100 celebratory events including the unveiling of a Commemorative Stone in Portsmouth Cathedral in November and a London reception at the Old Royal Naval College Greenwich where Wrens served and trained for many years.

Pictured is HRH The Princess Royal – Chief Commandant for Women in the Royal Navy opens the exhibition at the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth.

HRH The Princess Royal officially opened the exhibition ‘Pioneers to Professionals: Women and the Royal Navy’ at the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard on the afternoon of 8 March 2017, followed by the launch of the WRNS100 centenary celebrations.

‘Pioneers to Professionals’ champions the early pioneers who fought for equal rights in the Royal Navy and tells the story of how women’s role and service in the navy has changed.

The exhibition opening and launch event were attended by current serving Royal Navy personnel, WRNS veterans, including members of the WRNS100 Project Team and museum officials.

For further details regarding the WRNS100 centenary celebrations please visit www.royalnavy.mod.uk/wrns100 www.wrns100.co.uk or email info@wrns100.co.uk

Naval Servicewoman and RM bandmaster escorts_image at Museum.

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