A SMILING Princess Royal arrived in sunshine at Britain’s biggest container port today to open a special garden.

The princess wore a fetching green and brown striped jacket and matching skirt with a red neckerchief.

She travelled to Felixstowe by helicopter after a busy morning of engagements in the region.

She was greeted by the mayor and mayoress of Felixstowe, Jon and Jan Garfield at the Felixstowe Seafarers’ Centre before going inside to meet staff and volunteers who run the facility.

During her visit she opened the new garden at the centre – a space designed to provide seafarers with an oasis where they can relax off-ship after sometimes up to two months at sea.

Designed by specialists Deakinlock, the garden features a timber pergola with a clear perspex roof, raised paved area with seating to provide sanctuary from the weather, raised beds, and timber cladding to screen it from the railway line.

Lesley Harvey met the princess while she was inside the centre.

She said: “she talked to us for a while and discussed the changes she had seen to the centre over the years.

“It was lovely to meet her, absolutely brilliant, she’s been here before and she’s such a hard working royal.”

The seafarers’ centre is run as an ecumenical mission by the British International Seafarers’ Society, the Mission to Seafarers and the Apostleship of the Sea.