An old couple from Kesgrave spoke of their heartbreak last night after neighbours blockaded the roads to prevent them getting home with their caravan.

Philip and Elizabeth Windsor had enjoyed a two-week holiday on a caravan site near Lowestoft, missing the news that travellers had set up camp illegally close to their home on the Grange Farm estate.

Tensions rose as furious locals set up road blocks with cars and farm machinery to prevent more travellers from arriving.

And when the Windsors turned off the A12 in their Ford Mondeo, towing their cherished Coachman's Pastiche and Vision behind them, they were unwittingly heading into a storm.

<center><div class="getty embed image" style="background-color:#fff;display:inline-block;font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#a7a7a7;font-size:11px;width:100%;max-width:445px;"><div style="overflow:hidden;position:relative;height:0;padding:66.329966% 0 0 0;width:100%;"><iframe src="//embed.gettyimages.com/embed/156822504?et=GYvL6_t0Q1BkOvgMf6dVbQ&viewMoreLink=off&sig=tLTFVUuDTPYlcSkPLyMgyUybbRsiq3EqWsrGxZNfz0E=" width="445" height="295" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="display:inline-block;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></div><p style="margin:0;"></p><div style="padding:0;margin:0 0 0 10px;text-align:left;"><a href="http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/156822504" target="_blank" style="color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;">View image</a> | <a href="http://www.gettyimages.com" target="_blank" style="color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;">gettyimages.com</a></div></div></center><center><i>Elizabeth Windsor in happier times in her Suffolk caravan</center></i><br><br>

Philip, 94, a retired naval officer, told the Suffolk Gazette: "We headed towards home and could not understand why people were running around shouting and waving pitchforks.

"When they spotted we were towing a caravan, they went ballistic. People we have lived around for years had seemingly lost their senses. They failed to recognise it was us and hounded us away.

"One chap whose lawn I mow because he has a dodgy hip threw an egg at the windscreen.

"I had to do a 12-point turn to get the caravan around before speeding off again at 20 miles an hour with a large group chasing us.

"Elizabeth was terrified. She and had a funny turn."

<b>Kesgrave kerfuffle</b>

The Windsors have now sought refuge in a holiday park in nearby Wadringfield to recover while the Kesgrave kerfuffle dies down.

Kesgrave resident Paul Rabble-Rouser said: "Elizabeth and Philip are lovely neighbours who do a lot in the community. But they were genuinely mistaken for those awful travellers and hounded out of town.

"We'd like to apologise, and those manning the barricades have been warned to let them back home."

Today it emerged the travellers had left the open space near the Farmhouse pub in Kesgrave, but illegal camps have now sprung up in Stowmarket and Woodbridge, with reports that Felixstowe is also being targeted.

The Windsors have been advised not to try and take their caravan to any of those towns.

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