POLICE have questioned a campaigner about a so-called protest planned for Princess Anne’s visit to the new Central Library in Swindon today.

Shirley Burnham, 61, sees the Princess Royal’s visit as an opportunity to highlight the plight of the Old Town Library. She and a couple of other campaigners are hoping to catch the attention of the Princess outside the library at noon with placards.

Mrs Burnham said the police have nothing to worry about.

“The only thing we get excited about is libraries but we do it in a very civilised way,” she said.

“There will be no shouting but there will be smiling and waving. She will probably only be there for about two seconds. We like her and hope she has a nice time.”

Shirley has been campaigning tirelessly to save the Victoria Road facility and has written to Princess Anne expressing her concerns. She is puzzled about how the police found out about her plans, as she had only told a few like-minded people.

She is wondering whether the Palace tipped off the police about her placard-waving plans even though she did not mention it in her letter.

She received an email from Inspector Madge Lynch asking for a quick chat about the planned “protest” on Wednesday.

Mrs Burnham added: “Her Royal Highness’s minders have to be meticulous about possible subversives and noisy demonstrations. Of course they must be careful. My only concern would be if the prompt to check me out was made by someone local. That would be outrageous.

“I have to say that, as authority figures go, the inspector I spoke to was very nice, informal and friendly. They had orders to have a chat with me, from much higher up.

“I wrote to Buckingham Palace and it may be that they routinely forward such correspondence to the local police, for security reasons. That is fine with me.”

Old Town Library has been under threat of closure in order to save Swindon Council £22,000. Consultation is ongoing to decide its fate.

Deputy council leader Fionuala Foley said there is an opportunity for the Old Town community to take on the running of the library to solve the problem.

Inspector Madge Lynch could not be reached for comment.