Heads up - Catherine's back at Ampthill boozer

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Just weeks after a national newspaper reported how furious Ampthill residents were demanding publican Richard Hammond be sent to the tower, Catherine of Aragon’s picture has been put back outside the Queen’s Head pub.

Patriotic Richard had stoked locals’ ire by replacing her portrait outside the popular 18th century boozer with a photograph of King Charles to mark his Coronation.

One little old lady waved her walking stick menacingly at him and snarled: “This is Aragon country, young man. You must put the old queen back.”

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And angry Adam Lauder, 39, told The Sun: “By removing Catherine’s head, this bounder has done what Henry VIII never dared do. We want our old queen back.”

Ampthill’s Queen’s Head gets a facelift and a new picture of Catherine of AragonAmpthill’s Queen’s Head gets a facelift and a new picture of Catherine of Aragon
Ampthill’s Queen’s Head gets a facelift and a new picture of Catherine of Aragon

Engineer Jonny Wilkinson, 54, fumed: “If he gets away with this, next the bounder will be trying to change the pub’s name to the King’s Head.”

While New Zealander Nicky Beale, 49, demanded: “Off with Richard’s head.”

But this week workmen moved in to give the 18th century pub a facelift – and one of the first things they did was hang a new portrait of Catherine outside.

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Former bricklayer Richard, 65, who has run the Queen’s Head for 15 years, said: “I always planned to put Catherine back, but somehow I never got around to it. I know it did upset some of the more traditional-minded members of our community, and I’m sorry about that. But I am sure everybody will love the new portrait which has been specially made for the pub.”

The controversial old sign showing King CharlesThe controversial old sign showing King Charles
The controversial old sign showing King Charles

The outside of the real ale boozer in Woburn Street is festooned with union flags, while a giant one hanging on the west terrace features a portrait of Charles with the slogan ‘long live the king’. There are more flags inside, along with a lifesize picture of Charles and Camilla on one wall of the snug.

However, it’s not the first time Richard has been in trouble over the sign, just yards from the town’s Ampthill Park where Henry VIII once locked up his Spanish queen. After Prince William married Kate Middleton, he put a picture of her on the pub sign.

Then when some locals moaned about that, he replaced it with a photo of her sister Pippa’s shapely bottom.

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That led to furious complaints from some residents, with irate Charlie Garth complaining: “Such behaviour might be acceptable in the fleshpots of Flitwick, but we certainly don’t want it in Ampthill.”

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