Today marks two significant royal anniversaries, so those of you with a Republican bent, look away now.

First His Majesty was born in Buckingham Palace exactly 75 years ago. Summer that year had been exceptionally warm, at Kew a maximum of 93°F on 28th July was recorded, with a minimum of 70°F on the following night, these were the highest on record for a July in 78 years of observations.

But for our day in question, 14th November 1973, it had a high recorded of only 62°F, with a low of 44°F, but luckily only 0.4 inches of rain fell when nearly 2 inches fell the next day.

So what happened in London 50 years ago today? Charles celebrated his 25th birthday whilst attending the marriage of his sister Anne to Mark Phillips at Westminster Abbey.

This day also saw some other ‘firsts’. Anne was the first of Her Majesty’s children to wed, and to a ‘commoner’, an unusual choice in those days.

The wedding had another first, being the first Royal wedding to be televised.

Five months later on 20th March 1974, on Constitution Hill, Anne was nearly kidnapped when armed unemployed labourer Ian Ball attacked the car in which she was riding, wounding her bodyguard and the chauffeur. This was not a first as the same short stretch of road had seen previous attacks upon royalty.