YOUNG actors at Ilkley Grammar School are preparing for a special royal performance next week.

The Princess Royal, Princess Anne, will visit the Cowpasture Road school on Wednesday afternoon to mark the school's 400th anniversary celebrations. She will not be the first Princess Royal to come to the grammar school - in 1964 Princess Mary, Countess of Harewood, formally opened the school's extensions and renovations.

In its day, the work had presented a challenge to architects because of the steeply sloping site, the need for many floor levels to make full use of the building, and the budget agreed for the work by the Government.

Almost 43 years to the day of the last royal visit, Princess Anne will join the school to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the institution being founded, originally on Skipton Road.

In a short visit, she will also get to meet the cast of the school theatrical production, School - The Scandal!, which has its premiere the same evening. The school production, co-written by Ilkley Grammar's heads of music and drama, is based on the school's history.

The Princess will also be shown around science, mathematics and English classes to recognise the school's special status, and is expected to unveil a commemorative plaque.

Head teacher, Gillian James, was delighted to have secured royal recognition.

She said: "Not every school can boast a 400th year history, but this still does not mean we can expect royalty. We did hope, however, that having secured the visit of the previous Princess Royal, we might be able to look forward to a visit from her successor, Princess Anne. It is inevitably a flying visit, in between engagements in Halifax and Wetherby, but we intend to make the most of it."

As part of her visit to West Yorkshire, the Princess, who visited Otley Sailing Club last year, will also be visiting a Wetherby market research company, joining 60th anniversary celebrations of Halifax company Timeform Ltd, and opening a new Community Sports Complex at the independent Rishworth School.