Princess Anne will be confronted by striking university staff when she visits King's College London tomorrow.
Library and computer staff have voted overwhelmingly to strike in protest at funding cuts to the university's library and computing services.
Students are being asked to support their action by joining the rally which will coincide with the princess's visit to King's medical school.
The protest is against restructuring plans at King's College, which according to Unison will prompt job cuts and mean no money for the new books, journals and resources for students.
Under the plans, university staff will have to attend interviews and compete against colleagues for their own jobs.
Unison officials at King's believe the consultation process over the plans has been little more than a "con trick".
This morning the university said it was unable to comment on the restructuring plans and their implications for staff and students.
Union members in the college's library and computer section voted by 87% to walk out tomorrow afternoon.
This will be followed by a further one day strike the following Thursday, 25 April, and the union branch has not ruled out the possibility of further action.
In a statement, the union said: "The branch believes the college is in financial crisis as the PPP [public private partnership] project (the largest undertaken in the higher education sector), and privatisation of some services has not brought the expected financial savings, and KCL [King's College] has not been claiming overheads on research grants.
"Now HEFCE [the Higher Education Funding Council for England] are demanding the college makes a 3% surplus yearly by 2003-04."
The restructuring of the university has started in the physical sciences and engineering and computer service departments, with reforms expected over the next two years.
With 12,400 undergraduate students and over 4,700 postgraduates in 10 schools of study, King's has an annual turnover of more than £300m. ------------------------------------------------------------------
