The former Kate Middleton was in town to officially open the £3 million East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices Treehouse centre, paid for in part thanks to donations from Star readers.
To celebrate the royal visit, Archant Suffolk’s Ipswich Star followed the usual morning print run with a special late edition featuring seven pages of photographs and reports.
The Star team in Ipswich, together with a small team led by print boss Clive Want, at Archant’s Thorpe St Andrew Print Centre, brought out the special three minutes early – and it was on sale in Ipswich by mid-afternoon.
Meanwhile, the Star dedicated a section of its website to the occasion, resulting in bumper online figures.
Coverage saw the paper turn into a broadsheet for the day, with a wrap-around front cover featuring a photograph of the Duchess during her visit.
The edition also included a commemorative eight-page supplement. Early reports were of very good print sales.
Star editor Nigel Pickover, who was at the hospice for the royal visit, said: “When I met Kate and told her we had printed a late special edition to mark her arrival, she was thrilled – and wanted a copy of the eight-page special sent to her.
“In the post, first class, Ma’am!”
