YOU might be forgiven for thinking our first two photos on these pages today are stilted publicity photos from a hammy and rather outdated amateur dramatic performance.

Far from it. Stagey as they are, they were taken on an important occasion: a Royal visit by Edward Prince of Wales to the Rowntree chocolate factory on Haxby Road on Thursday, May 31, 1923.

The Prince of Wales - pictured in the military-looking greatcoat - was in York that day to be made an Honorary Freeman of the City and took part in several different engagements while he was here.

Edward Prince of Wales, you may be thinking. Just who was he, exactly? Well, he went on to become King Edward VIII: only to abdicate in December 1936, less than a year after succeeding as King, so that he could marry the American divorcee Wallis Simpson.

These photographs, which come from Explore York's Imagine York archive, were clearly posed. The potted palms give an oddly Victorian feel to the photographs. And who are the other people pictured? We'd love to hear from anyone who knows...

Since we've had a couple of Rowntree photos, it seems only fair that we should include a few Terry's pictures, too. No royalty in these photographs, however. taken in the early 1900s, the photos - which also come from Explore York - show members of three of the departments at the Terry's factory in Clementhorpe: the 'boiling shop', the 'lozenge department' and the packing shop.

One thing strikes you immediately: there's not a woman or girl among the workers pictured - they're all men or boys. But then, these photographs were taken long before the First World War, when women in large numbers began to take on the factory jobs left behind by men who had gone to serve overseas...