Museum bosses in Shropshire are preparing to welcome royalty to officially open a new exhibition next week. Princess Anne, the Princess Royal, will be in the county on Wednesday.

She will open the National Cold War Exhibition at the Royal Air Force Museum.

The huge exhibition, housed in a new hall at the Cosford museum, will be formally opened after more than a year of preparation.

The Princess Royal, who will give an opening address, will be among several international dignitaries, including high-profile political and military figures from the Cold War era.

Further details of guests are not being released until later this week for security reasons. The new exhibition tells the story of the Cold War, from national, international, social and political perspectives.

It features every-day exhibits such as postcards sent across the Berlin Wall divide and Russian dolls as well as military equipment.

Among the planes on show will be Britain’s three V-Bombers, the Vulcan, Victor and Valiant, on display together for the first time.

Others confirmed to be attending the opening ceremony include Dr Michael Fopp, the museum’s director general, Stephen Johnson, from the director of operations at the Heritage Lottery Fund, and RAF Group Captain Andy Turner.

The exhibition has cost £12.5 million and is sited in a new twin-apex structure, representing the Cold War struggle between the two superpowers.

Visitors enter through a concrete nuclear bunker-style section.