FOR the second year running they are preparing to greet a pair of royal guests.

Just 12 months after welcoming the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, organisers of the New Forest and Hampshire County Show are once again set to roll out the red carpet.

The Earl and Countess of Wessex are due to visit the second day of the show and plan to spend several hours at the event.

The surprise announcement was made at a celebration held to promote the three-day spectacular, which starts on July 30 and is expected to attract about 100,000 visitors from across the south.

Boost Show secretary Denis Dooley said: “The Earl and Countess of Wessex will tour the whole site, taking in as many actions, and will also see the Grand Parade.

“It’s a lovely boost and shows how highly the show and the Forest are regarded, both locally and nationally.”

Mr Dooley still has fond memories of last year’s royal visit.

The Queen made the Daily Echobacked show the last stop on a nationwide tour to mark her Diamond Jubilee and received a rapturous reception from the crowd.

Mr Dooley said: “I was very impressed with the way the public and the royals interacted so closely and I’m hoping for a similar result this year.”

Show chairman Geoff Morgan added: “The Earl and Countess are a superb couple and she in particular has got a terrifically soft spot for the New Forest.

“They are willing to go around the showground separately, which means they will see twice as many things.”

Mr Morgan revealed that he was stepping down as chairman after 13 years.

“When I first came here in 1956 it was a one-day show and I was a runner in the pig section,” he said.

“The show has changed enormously since then. We’ve become an agricultural education area above anything else. Without them even realising it, children learn quite a bit about where their food comes from.”

This year’s event will include daily displays by the Devil’s Horsemen, who perform a series of acrobatic stunts on horseback.

Visitors will also be able to take part in a tug of war contest against a tractor and well as trying their hand at being a TV weather presenter