After a marathon seven year fundraising effort, the Sir William Rous Cancer Unit was officially opened by Princess Alexandra at Kingston Hospital on Saturday.

The Queen’s cousin, who launched the appeal at Hampton Court in May 2001, unveiled plaques at the £4.5m unit and met the great and the good from surrounding boroughs who had helped raise the money.

Princess Alexandra unveiled two plaques in the reception area, one to mark the opening of the unit and another in memory of the appeal chairman, Nigel Clark, the Deputy Lieutenant of Richmond, who did so much to ensure its success before his sudden death last summer while competing in a rowing race on the Helston river in Cornwall.

Afterwards, the princess spent over an hour chatting to over 200 guests in a marquee outside the unit, where senior military officers mixed with mayors, council leaders, hospital staff and community fundraisers such as Nancy Vlasto who, despite being disabled, raised money for the unit using her mobility scooter dressed as pantomime horse Blossom.

Appeal director, Ian Pay, who has just been appointed to run the charity appeal for the next Lord Mayor of London, said he was amazed by the generosity of local people who had done so much for so long to get this unit built. He said: “This really is a new cancer unit for the community, paid for by the community. I would like to thank everyone who has supported us.”

A total of 58,000 donations came in and an extraordinary variety of fundraising events were organised, from dog races and balls at the Dorchester hotel to cricket matches, cake stalls, and the sale of teddy bears dressed in Chelsea strip.

Appeal manager Barry Couling has run the appeal office at the hospital and co-ordinated the fundraising effort from the very start with good humour and unwavering enthusiasm.

He said: “Lots and lots of different people have done lots of different things to raise the money. I am absolutely delighted to see the culmination, starting from nothing, to a cancer unit that will serve the local people. That’s a true achievement, and I am just glad that I have been a part of it and to have met such incredible people who have given freely of their time and money.”

The unit is named after General Sir William Rous, who was chairman of the hospital until dying of cancer in 1999. His family and his old regiment, the Coldstream Guards, have provided tremendous support for the appeal, and turned out in force on Saturday, led by his widow Lady Judy Rous.

The cancer unit is being run by Kingston Hospital in partnership with the Royal Marsden Hospital and MacMillan Cancer Support, which provided £1.4m and £630,000 respectively.

It has already started diagnosing and treating patients, will soon start offering chemotherapy, and is expected to be fully operational by September.

Jan Morrison OBE, lead cancer support nurse at the hospital who, along with Robin Leach, who was lead cancer clinician at the hospital, helped design the bright, airy unit which brings together all the cancer services under one roof, said it was a quantum leap forward for cancer care in this area - both in terms of facilities and state-of the-art equipment.

John Langan, who as chief executive of Kingston Hospital in 2001 was instrumental in getting the project started, was away on business in Israel on Saturday but has been promised a private tour of the building on his return.