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Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee: Long to reign over us...
Queen Elizabeth leaves The Cresset in Bretton after performing the opening ceremony there in 1978. Photo: Peterborough ET Archive
SIXTY years ago today Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne following the death of her father George VI. Ann Molyneux-Jackson looks back on the many visits she has paid to Peterborough during her long reign.
WHEN news of the death of King George VI was announced on February 6, 1952, Peterborough joined the rest of the country and the Commonwealth in mourning.
On that day 60 years ago today the Union Flag was immediately lowered to half mast on Peterborough Cathedral as a sign of respect.
A moving picture on the front page of The Evening Telegraph showed the King waving off Princess Elizabeth as she had left Heathrow Airport eight days earlier for a royal visit to Africa, New Zealand and Australia. It was to be the last time she would see her father alive.
The King had died in his sleep at Sandringham from lung cancer and, even though his health had been failing, it was still a shock.
The 25-year-old princess and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, were given the news at the Treetops hunting lodge in Nyari, Kenya, where they were staying on the first leg of their trip.
The young Queen flew home immediately and was met at Heathrow airport by a deputation headed by her uncle The Duke of Gloucester, who lived at Barnwell Manor, near Oundle, and Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
In Peterborough, a crowd gathered as news of the Queen’s accession was proclaimed from the steps of the town hall on Friday, February 8, 1952.
The King was buried at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, on February 15, following a State Funeral.
It was a sombre start to an impressive 60 year reign which has seen Queen Elizabeth visit Peterborough, just 44 miles from Sandringham House, her Norfolk home, many times.
On each occasion hundreds of city people have turned out to give her a warm welcome.
Her visits to Peterborough started even before she ascended to the throne.
She came to the Peterborough Agricultural Show in Eastfield in 1951 when she was still Princess Elizabeth as the special guest of the show’s organising committee.
Like the rest of the country, few households in Peterborough owned a TV set for the Queen’s Coronation on June 2, 1953 so crowds gathered in cinemas and community halls.
At Fletton Ex-Serviceman’s Club, 50 people were queueing for a seat by 9.30am.
The city spent £3,500 - a lot of money at the time - on celebrations to mark the Coronation, and Bridge Street was just one of the places festooned with bunting to mark the great occasion.
The only Peterborough resident to see the Coronation with their own eyes was Mr A Lister Robinson, the city mayor.
He later recalled sitting in his seat in Westminster Abbey from 5.45am until 4.45pm and seeing Queen Salote of Tonga walk proudly down the aisle dripping wet from the rain.
A substantial crowd turned out to see the Queen arrive in the Royal Train at Peterborough’s North Station on her way to the Burghley Horse Trials in 1966.
People lined the route through St Leonards Street, over the Crescent Bridge to Longthorpe. Happy subjects also gathered at Castor and Ailsworth, and near to the Wansford flyover as the car joined the A1 to Burghley.
At Peterborough station as the Queen boarded her train home, excited crowds surged through the police barriers to get a final glimpse of her.
She was at Burghley House in Stamford again in 1971 but it was a more personal visit as a proud mum watching her 21-year-old daughter Princess Anne win the European Three-Day event Championship.
In March 1975, the Queen made her first official visit to the city as reigning monarch handing out the traditional Maundy money to 98 senior citizens – 49 to men and 49 to women, because she was 49-years-old at the time - in a special ceremony attended by more than 3,200 people at Peterborough Cathedral.
After the service she did a walkabout in Bridge Street and Julie Swift, daughter of the then council leader Charles Swift, was picked to hand a posy to her on the steps of the town hall.
City councillors dined with the Queen and the Duke of the Edinburgh at the town hall tucking into a menu of salmon mousse, roast leg of lamb and fresh strawberries and pineapple and cream, prepared by Aldo Rossi, the head chef at the George Hotel in Stamford.
The people of Peterborough celebrated the Monarch’s Silver Jubilee in 1977 by holding more than 60 street parties.
The following year they turned out in force to see the Queen officially open the new Magistrates Court and The Cresset complex at Bretton, tying both openings in with a visit to the National Shire Horse Society centenary show at Alwalton.
A crowd of 2,000 greeted the Queen and Duke when they arrived at Peterborough station and they were given a fanfare from The Royal Anglian Regiment as they stepped on to the platform. Attendance at the Shire Horse Show doubled from the previous year thanks to the Royal visitors.
In May 1988, the Queen had another busy day in the city attending a special service to mark Peterborough Cathedral’s 750th anniversary and opening both the Edith Cavell Hospital at Bretton and Norwich and Peterborough Building Society’s head office at Lynch Wood.
Her Majesty had arrived in an ordinary Inter City 125 train – in a carriage that was in regular use by commuters.
There were traffic hold-ups as 3,000 extra visitors piled through the turnstiles to catch a glimpse of the Queen at the East of England Show in 1991,
The Queen has maintained links with the city and appears to be particularly fond of Peterborough Cathedral, donating an undisclosed sum of money towards their 7.3 million fund-raising drive in 1998 and making another generous donation towards its restoration in 2002. The Cathedral Choir will celebrate The Accession of Queen Elizabeth II with choral evensong at the Cathedral tonight at 5.30pm.
Did you meet Queen Elizabeth II on any of these occasions? Please get in touch with Ann Molyneux-Jackson at ann.molyneux@peterboroughtoday.co.uk or call 01733 588727.
Related:
The moment a princess became a queen - BBC News Magazine
It is exactly 60 years since Princess Elizabeth, on a trip to Kenya, became Queen.
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Weather for Peterborough
Thursday 24 May 2012
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Hoplite46
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 10:45 PMLets hope she gives Peterborough a wide berth. I cant be doing with the fuss. Anyway who cares what has she done for the common person ???
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