A new song and video chronicles a famous royal visit to Cornwall.

And it imagines what should have happened if a gun salute had gone horribly wrong.

Richard Trethewey is a singer and musician with a pride for the traditions, history and culture of his native Cornwall. A bard of the Cornish Gorsedh, Richard is passionate about bringing to life the stories of people and events that have shaped the Cornish identity.

It was whilst looking for stories from Cornwall’s river estuaries that Richard stumbled across a story which sparked his imagination.

He said: “I was thinking about my next album and was reading a book called ‘Bridging the Tide’ by Bob Richards when a brief mention of one story caught my eye.

“It was an account of Queen Victoria’s visit to Cornwall in 1846 in the new royal yacht with Prince Albert and the new Duke of Cornwall Prince Edward. 

“A magistrate from Truro called John Gwatkin decided he would give Queen Victoria a welcome to remember and gathered seven cannons from his own residence and took them down to the river bank at Trelissick. 

“He built them a platform and fired a welcome to the Queen. The sound was reported as echoing up and down the estuary and all its inlets. My song imagines what might have gone wrong from that point on!”

Richard’s song is called ‘Queen of the Cornish Rhine’ - because Queen Victoria was so impressed with the River Fal that she declared it equalled the Rhine!

Richard reunited with film-makers Grace Fox and Rob Moth, with whom he previously worked when making the video for his song ‘Hope in a Jam Jar’.

“I had a very clear image in my mind and wanted the video to be very tongue in cheek and give people something to laugh about during these strange times,” he said.

“Grace and I chatted and decided to shoot it in a Georges Méliès inspired style, in black and white and with titles in period style.”

The film was shot on location at Roundwood Quay, near Trelissick, and Epiphany House in Truro and features actor Rory Wilton (Poldark, Doc Martin, Fisherman’s Friends) as Queen Victoria. Richard himself plays the eccentric John Gwatkin.

“ We had so much fun filming this video,” said Richard. “Without giving away too much you can expect a police chase, scenes on horseback and cannon firing left right and centre!”

‘Queen of the Cornish Rhine’ can be found online on Youtube, on Richard’s website (www.richardtrethewey.org) and the song is available to stream on all the usual platforms.