AT last week’s Royal Welsh Show an interesting encounter occurred.

It involved The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall and the King and King Goodwill Zwelithini and Queen Pumi of the Zulus.

The Zulu royals were win Builth Wells to mark the 140th anniversary of the Battle of Rorke’s Drift.

It would of been a poignant occasion for the Abergavenny soldier who was one of the ‘legendary eleven’ to receive a Victoria Cross for his valour at Rorke’s Drift.

Although more associated with Cwmbran, John Fielding was actually born in Abergavenny’s Merthyr Road on May 24, 1857.

Private John Fielding, who served as private John Williams, was one of the 150 men who successfully defended the remote British outpost known as KwaJimu (‘Jim’s Land’) against a horde of 4000 angry Zulus hellbent on spilling British blood.

Aided and abetted by the trusty Martini-Henry rifle, albeit, ‘with some guts behind it’, Fielding was one of the courageous few who successfully repelled wave after wave of the most powerful and feared warrior nation that Africa had ever nurtured.

Fresh from slaughtering an entire British garrison at Isandlwana on the morning of that fateful day (January 22, 1879), the 4000 Zulu battle-hardened warriors then turned their attentions to the tiny British garrison situated on the banks of the Buffalo River in Natal, South Africa.

Determined to rid their beloved homeland of the despised colonial red coats, the Zulus attacked with all the wild abandon of a patriot’s zeal as the British boys, miles from the green, green grass of home, gritted their teeth, steadied both hand and aim, and put steel in their resolve as they faced down certain death.

After a battle which continued throughout the night and into the early hours of the following morning, a Zulu army, which had suffered heavy casualties, saw the British relief column approaching and finally withdrew.

It eventually transpired that the British had lost only 17 men in what became known as the battle of the ’Heroic Hundred’, while the Zulus had lost 300. Both sides showed incredible valour.

John Fielding enlisted first in the Monmouthshire Militia in February 1877 and later that year joined the 24th Warwickshire Regiment of Foot.

It is not known why Fielding used the Williams alias when he enlisted.

A 21-year-old Fielding was in the mission hospital when the Zulus attacked and alongside fellow soldier Private Alfrred Hook, held the hospital against all odds until his ammunition ran out.

The two soldiers then fought hand to hand and eyeball to eyeball with the enemy to allow the hospital’s patients to escape with their lives.

Fielding received his VC from Major General Anderson at Gibraltar in March 1880.

He served in India in 1880-1883 before transferring to the reserve.

In 1914 he became the recruiting Sergeant for the South Wales Borderers.

He married Elizabeth Murphy and had three sons and two daughters. One son was killed while serving during the retreat from Mons in 1914.

Fielding was the last of the eleven Rorke’s Drift VC holders when he died in 1932.

32 Years later in 1964, Fielding and his brothers in arms exploits were immortalized in the film Zulu, featuring Michael Caine and Stanley Baker.

And although in actual historical fact there was no ‘battlefield singing contest’ between the British and the Zulus, and the Zulus did not sing a song saluting fellow warriors before departing peacefully, the film, guaranteed the name Rorke’s Drift would forever be synonymous with courage and resolve against the odds.

Gugu Ngcobo helped organise the recent Zulu visit, and hoped the marking of the anniversary would lead to a greater cooperation and understanding between her country and the UK.

She explained, "In the spirit of peace and development we are here because the King desired it most that we have to create cordial relations between these two kingdoms, and we must look beyond what happened 140 years ago and see what positive energies can come out of the experiences of the past."