THE exiled heir to the Polish throne arrives in Bolton today for the funeral of one of the town's most distinguished military men.

Count Juliufz Nowina-Sokolnicki will pay respects to war hero Colonel George Robinson, who won worldwide acclaim for his bravery on the battlefield.

The exiled royal, who fled Poland for Britain as Nazis and then Communists seized control of his country during the Second World War, would become King if the now democratic eastern European country ever decided to reinstate her monarchy.

The count, who was a friend of Colonel Robinson, was due to attend this afternoon's full military funeral with scores of Army representatives from throughout Britain and the world.

Other mourners will include Earl Kitchener, great-grandson of the Earl Kitchener immortalized in the famous "Your Country Needs You" First World War recruitment poster. Standard bearers from the Fusilier Association will lead Colonel Robinson's coffin, draped in a Union Flag, into St Augustine's Church, Tonge Moor, Bolton, today.

A bugler will sound The Last Post as he is buried at Heaton Cemetery.

Former desert rat Colonel Robinson, who died at home in Firwood Close, Hall i' th' Wood, Bolton, aged 79, was admired for an illustrious career which saw him fight throughout the world, often behind enemy lines.

He was awarded the Croix de Guerre, the French equivalent of the George Cross, and also won the Siege of Tobruk medal.

Fighting took him as far afield as Egypt and he was made Grand Prior of Great Britain in the centuries-old Sovereign Military Order of St Stanislaus for his efforts alongside Polish forces. After his Army career ended in 1970, Colonel Robinson became an influential member of several military organisations, including the Bolton-based Middle East Forces Veterans' Association, which campaigned for recognition of Gulf War Syndrome.

Association secretary Andi Hagen, who helped arrange today's funeral, paid tribute to a "remarkable" man and said Colonel Robinson was as fearless in fighting for the modern-day soldier as he was when he was behind enemy lines himself.

"George was blown up, stabbed and shot, but he never made an issue of it," he said.

"He was the old-style soldier who commanded total respect whenever he walked into a room."

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