A CIGARETTE box with a Royal connection is tipped to sell for up to £300 when it goes under the hammer at a Stourbridge auction house this weekend.

Such tins containing tobacco or chocolate were given to every British soldier serving at Christmas 1914 during the First World War.

But the Queen Mary brass cigarette box which is due to go on sale at a specialist Mantiques sale at Fieldings Auctioneers in Stourbridge this Saturday (July 6) has its own Royal story attached.

Stourbridge auctioneer Mark Hannam, of Fieldings Auctioneers in Mill Race Lane, said: "What is so unique about this tin is that it was given by his majesty King George V to his chauffer while visiting the front."

Discovered at a house on the edge of Wolverhampton - the tin containing cigarettes, tobacco, a greeting card and photograph, together with hand-written note in pencil by H.R.H Prince of Wales for a delivery to a hairdresser in France dated 12-6-15, had been given as a gift from King George V to Wolverhampton man Robert Taylor. The late Mr Taylor was the King's chauffeur while serving in the Army Service Corps - and frequently drove his majesty near the front line.

Together with a newspaper cutting outlining this and similar events, the tin is expected to sell for between £200 to £300.