A CHANCE find at a Worcester hotel has revealed a glimpse into how the royal family were celebrated 100 years ago – just as the Queen celebrates her Diamond Jubilee.

A print of Queen Mary and part of a 100-year-old calendar were discovered behind an old mirror during a recent refurbishment of a first-floor room in the Great Western Hotel in Shrub Hill.

Richard Melling and his business partner John Glacken, have owned the hotel for 10 years. Mr Melling said at one time the room – room 18 – was the biggest in the hotel and would probably have been let to the best guest.

“It’s one of the big rooms, actually it was the biggest room in the hotel,” he said.

“It used to have a very big grand double bed in it. The calendar is made by a company in Portsmouth so it looks as though someone was travelling north from there.

“It looks like they had this in their luggage and tried to put it up on the wall, and it’s fallen down behind the mirror.”

Mr Melling said they were now planning to display the print and the calendar in the bar area of the hotel so everyone can see them.

Sheena Payne-Lunn, historic environment record officer at Worcester City Council said: “This is an intriguing survival of a piece of social history, giving a timely insight into how the royal family were celebrated a hundred years ago, just as we are marking Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee.

“This small snapshot from 1912 enables us to imagine what the person carrying these items might have been like and where they might have come from, though we will probably never know for certain.

“It’s the mystery behind chance finds like this that make them so fascinating.”