Royal walking stick of Anglesey family up for auction

Auctioneer Liz Chilcott with Sir Ralph's walking stick

A walking stick given to an Anglesey-born Victorian diplomat by King Edward VII is to go under the hammer at an auction house in Devon.

The stick is the second one Sir Ralph Champneys Williams received from the Royal Family, as the first one was burnt in a fire in Kenya.

The second stick was presented to Sir Ralph after his son wrote to King George VI to ask for a replacement.

A letter from the Royal household is included with the stick at auction.

Auctioneer Chilcotts said Sir Ralph was acting as governor of Barbados in 1901 when he had to inform the British colony of the death of Queen Victoria and the accession of King Edward VII and Queen Mary.

When he later met the Royal couple on their tour of India the King presented him with one of his own walking sticks.

It has taken a little time to find this stick, which accounts for the delay, but His Majesty hopes that it may prove a suitable substitute Letter by personal secretary to King George VI, after the original stick from Edward VII (pictured) was destroyed

Diplomatic duties took Sir Ralph to most of the colonies and remote corners of the British Empire and the walking stick accompanied him wherever he was posted.

However, the stick was destroyed when a house fire gutted his son's home in Kenya - named Treffos after the family home near Menai Bridge on Anglesey, which is now a preparatory school.

Sir Ralph's son, Major Geoffrey Howard Williams, wrote to King George VI, to ask for a replacement.

A letter from the King's personal secretary was sent back from Sandringham, dated 29 December, 1945.

'Generosity'

"I am forwarding you, by direction of the King, a walking stick which belonged to King Edward VII to replace the one which you had the misfortune to lose when your house burnt down," said the letter. "It has taken a little time to find this stick, which accounts for the delay, but His Majesty hopes that it may prove a suitable substitute," the letter added.

The stick replaced one burnt in a house fire in Kenya

Since then the walking stick has been kept in the same family, passing to the present owner, Sir Ralph's great-grandson.

He discovered the stick, with the accompanying letter wrapped around it, at the back of a wardrobe while emptying his late father's home in East Devon.

Auctioneer Duncan Chilcott said: "Obviously this walking stick - like the one it replaced - was a dear friend to Sir Ralph and while it is likely to sell for less than £300 the story behind how it came to be sent from Sandringham to Kenya is really heart-warming."

He said the gift showed Sir Ralph was held in very high regard by the Royal Family and was a mark of King George's generosity, for which he was well known.

The auction will be held at Chilcotts auctioneers on Saturday at the company's Honiton saleroom in Devon.