HATHERLEIGH Carnival has announced its president and royalty for the 2016 event.

The president is Monkokehampton resident Jenny Phillips. Jenny’s family moved to Hatherleigh when she was four and they swiftly became carnival fans and made their first float which Jenny was on at the age of five.

She has only ever missed two Hatherleigh carnivals — once was due to a bad case of flu but the other occasion was following a car accident.

Hatherleigh has its own Queen Elizabeth, 16-year-old Elizabeth Hutton from Rutleigh Farm. Elizabeth’s family are the carnival’s own ‘Royal family’ with mum Ann, dad Andrew and brother William.

She has always been a huge fan of Hatherleigh Carnival and has taken part as a walking guy many times, but this will be first experience on a float. Her chosen charity is the Premature Baby Unit at Barnstaple Hospital as she was born eight weeks early and wants to give something back in return for all the loving care she received.

This year’s prince and princess are Heidi Flowers, aged seven, and her four-year-old brother Guy. The Flowers family moved to Hatherleigh from Coventry last year. When Heidi saw the prince and princess’s float she said it was her dream to be princess in 2016.