PRINCESS Beatrice is being invited to follow in the 100-year-old footsteps of her equally Royal namesake.

Along with her father, the Duke of York, she has been asked to open an extension to the town hall in Scarborough, later this year.

It was Queen Victoria's youngest daughter, also Princess Beatrice, who opened the town hall in July 1903, unveiling a statue of her mother at the same time.

Scarborough Borough Council has now asked the Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, Lord Crathorne, to explore the possibility of the Duke and the Princess visiting the resort to open the extension on the centenary date.

Council leader Councillor Eileen Bosomworth said: "It would be wonderful to make the extension opening a royal event especially if the princess could be present.

"It would be a wonderful way of looking back on all that has been achieved in the past century and look forward to the future."

The extension has been carved out of a complex of old buildings in adjoining King Street to allow all the council's departments to be under one roof.

At present the housing and environmental services department is in prefabricated buildings in Brook Square and the tourism department at Londesborough Lodge.