R.I.P. Queen Elizabeth II

I have been a while without posting on here even though I have several draft posts waiting to be finished – and for me to be inspired.

Since the Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and 15 Sovereign States, died on Thursday I thought I would put together some of my own thoughts and memories, although I never actually met her.

Whether you are pro- or anti-royal it would be wrong not to have some respect for someone who reached the grand age of 96 and who was still performing some light public duties until a few days before she died – notably greeting our new Prime Minister and inviting her to form a government.

I was born two years before the Coronation. We lived at that time in a small market town called Brecon (population approx 8 000) and I remember my mum telling me how they took me to the coronation celebrations and how I kept my little flag for days and called it my wag. Well, I was less than two years old! Because of this childhood tale I thought for several years when I was little that the Queen had been crowned in Brecon and that I’d been to the actual coronation!

Brecon as it would have looked when I lived there.
Brecon Cathedral. When I was small I believed the coronation had taken place here!

When we were very young we children really identified with the royal children as they were often shown in the newspapers and magazines at the time. When I was a bit older I remember me and my friends being so excited when the queen had two more babies. I was thirteen when Edward was born and we girls were fascinated by the photographs of the new baby and lapped up all the details – weight, name etc.

My brother and I used to look a bit like these two when we were very young, although we grew up to look entirely different. It was mainly due to similar early 50s clothes and hair – my hair was EXACTLY the same as hers! Back then we used to imagine that if we met them they’d like to play with us.
The Queen with Prince Andrew and baby Prince Edward. One of the pictures my school friends and I would have pored over in 1964.

These are just some of my own recollections from my childhood. I don’t remember a time before the Queen and I felt like commemorating her passing in my own small way.

Credit to Google, Wikipedia and Google Images. As usual, I make every effort to ensure that my facts are correct and that by using the photographs I source I am not infringing copyright. If anyone objects to anything in this post please contact me and it will be removed.

14 thoughts on “R.I.P. Queen Elizabeth II”

      • I did wonder! I was born in January 1947 and oddly enough don’t remember the King dying even though I was 5 but I do remember the Coronation – we got a day off school and there were festivities in the park (Preston Park in Eaglescliffe, near Stockton-on-Tees in Co. Durham), including egg-and-spoon, 3-legged and sack races and a fancy dress competition with classes for children and adults. I went as ‘Off the ration’. Mam had made me a skirt out of royal blue crepe paper, the sort we used to make Christmas decorations with, and had sewn onto it, inter alia, a butter paper and an eggshell. We’d had fun trying to blow eggs! Mam went as the woman whose old man followed the van. She wore lace-up ankle boots, an old-fashioned dress & a flowery hat and carried an old birdcage with a ‘cock linnet’ made out of a potato and feathers. Neither of us won a prize! We were miffed because the chap who won the adult prize, dressed as a Red Indian Chief, had had professional help with his costume and hair.
        I’ve read many times that it rained that day but I don’t remember it. Perhaps it didn’t rain where we were.
        I don’t know if it was the same day or later but there was an amazing firework display in Ropner Park in Stockton. It must have been quite late in the evening because it was dark. They must have used a wire frame with fireworks attached to it because the culmination of the display was the head of the Queen wearing her crown. To a 6-year-old it was magical and it took me years to work out how it must have been done!
        I’ve still got my Coronation cup, saucer and plate (on the sideboard). I think we were presented with them at school but our parents had had to pay for them.

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      • Oh what lovely memories!! I can picture it all! It’s also brought back memories of our annual village Carnival and my mum making our costumes on her sewing machine out of crepe paper. If it rained on the day the colours all ran.

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  5. Hi, The Queen was very much loved in America, it’s a sad time for England and the world, I do remember watching the TV with my mother of the Queen’s coronation, I didn’t understand what I was watching at the time, as I was just 6 years old in 1953, but I do remember seeing her on the TV screen with my mother. A Woman of Grace! God Bless her!…Bob

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  6. I remember the newspaper being edged in black the day the king died – I was only four. I expect somebody pointed it out and the solemnity of the occasion stuck. Over a year later The Coronation was such fun. Wearing red, white and blue ribbons in my hair and clothes to match, we had a party at our school with sugary food and games. I still have my Coronation mug and count our new king as my contemporary!

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