Royal visits to Port Melbourne

Royal visitors may have arrived in Sandridge in the early days but were then whisked away to St Kilda Pier to make the grand entrance to Melbourne up Fitzroy St and St Kilda Rd rather than via the 'drab and shabby' entrance of Port Melbourne. The first Royal visitor to Sandridge [and Australia] was Prince Alfred, Queen Victoria's son, in 1867. When the Queen visited in 1956, Port Melbourne people waited on St Kilda Rd to see her. The most recent royal to visit was Prince Charles in 1988. He stopped for tea at the newly constructed public housing between Beach and Rouse St following his interest in urban architecture. People campaigning against the Sandridge City Development [the proposal which preceded Beacon Cove] appealed to him and he sent word to the campaigners on his return to England. [pers comm]