The Royals have been no strangers to Cumbria this year, with a number of visits from the nation’s most talked about family to factories, museums, towns and celebrity dogs.

Princess Anne kicked off 2019 with the first of three visits to the county, when she dropped in on footwear producer New Balance in Flimby, near Maryport, in January.

The thirteenth in line to the throne toured the factory floor of the American-owned company - the UK’s second biggest footwear manufacturer - as part of a trip designed to promote British-made products.

She also travelled south to Barrow to meet foodbank volunteers and officially open a new building run by youth charity Project John.

In February, HRH the Countess of Wessex dropped in on John Farrer and Co, Tea and Coffee Merchants, in Kendal, to help the firm mark its 200th anniversary.

As a gift, the Queen’s daughter-in-law received a hamper of the company’s 1819 blend coffee and 2019 blend tea.

Two months later Prince Charles was also in Cumbria for a series of royal engagements.

He helped Carlisle’s Pirelli Tyres celebrate its 50th anniversary as well as opening the £20m Windermere Jetty Museum of Boats, Steam and Stories.

During the tour of the new steam museum, on the shores of Windermere near Bowness, Prince Charles was also given a blast from the past after being reunited with steamboat Branksome.

He went on to visit the Langdale Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team and the team at Hawkshead Relish Company.

However, these visits were perhaps just the warm up act for the sheen of celebrity which accompanied the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge when they came to Keswick's Market Street in June.

Thousands of people lined the streets around the Lake District town’s Market Square to catch a glimpse of Prince William and wife Kate.

Kensington Palace tipped the visit as celebrating the “resilience and spirit of rural and farming communities in Cumbria”.

They took time to meet volunteers from Keswick Mountain Rescue, Keswick First Responders, Youth Mental Health First Aiders and other organisations which have received grants from Cumbria Community Foundation.

Later that month, Prince William’s uncle Prince Edward came to Barrow where he toured BAE Systems Maritime’s shipyard as well as St Mary’s Hospice before visiting Walney’s nature reserve and oyster farm.

Princess Anne then returned to Cumbria in July to visit both the £30m Whitehaven Campus, which combines St Benedict’s Catholic High School with Mayfield School, and the newly built head office of training organisation Gen2 in Lillyhall, Workington.

Finally, in September, Princess Anne solidified her status as Cumbria’s most regular royal visitor of 2019 when she toured Furness General Hospital’s £12m state of the art South Lakes Birth Centre as part of her role as patron of the Royal College of Midwives.