It’s yo, ho, ho and a bottle of rum for our sailor Prince as William takes up his two month secondment with the Royal Navy. Let’s hope the title line of that song doesn’t apply too often.

Following his training period at the Britannia Naval College in Dartmouth, Devon, the Prince will join HMS Iron Duke on drugs patrol in the Caribbean.

Full details of the deployment can be found here in the Clarence House briefing.

The RN stint ends in August when he will take a break before rejoining his Army regiment until January. He may be assigned to other duties during this period, since four months in Windsor Barracks would be something of an anticlimax after all that has gone before.

There’s much speculation about the crucial August break in the context of his relationship with Kate Middleton. Readers of Royal Anecdotes will be aware of what that is. We are saying nothing.

As Royal news is a bit sparse this weekend, I thought I’d be a bit self-indulgent and show you a few photos of Royal Anecdotes’ new environment at Exeter’s Quay. The weather is gloriously spring-like at present, so I spent the morning wandering along the river and canal snapping the views.

Our old Customs House with two cannons guarding it

The Customs House was built in 1661 and is the oldest brick building in Exeter. It was used by Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise as recently as 1989. Its magnificent interior reflects the wealth of the West Country’s wool trade at the time it was built.

View across the canal to the bridge and the 11th-century Cathedral

There’s an almost holiday resort atmosphere here at the Quay right now with people sitting out for lunch at the many pubs and restaurants. It can’t surely be mid-February? — but it is.

Regency view across the river

Now here’s a perfect cluster of Regency buildings, straight out of Jane Austen. Apart from the car and the couple in fluorescent yellow togs, it could be 200 years ago.

A pair of medieval houses, now used for commercial purposes

As much of old Exeter was destroyed by bombing in World War 2, it remains a miracle that so much from the medieval and Elizabethan periods remains standing.

More genuine Royal anecdotes on Monday.

Click on the Flickr logo in the sidebar for more Exeter photos. Click on the thumbnails for more detailed shots.

We’ve just created a Flickr photostream of life in Exeter, England, generally regarded as one of the most loyal cities in the UK to the Monarchy.

It’s where I live, of course, and I’m going to build up a store of such shots over the summer.

You can see them here : Flickr Photostream.