THE FIRST
PRINCESS ELIZABETH made her first visit to Durham in 1947, shortly after her first overseas tour to South Africa, and was bowled over by the historic city’s beauty.
On October 22, all the streets around Darlington’s Bank Top station were crowded by people eager to catch a first glimpse of the young woman who one day would be queen when she arrived on the 5.47pm train.
She was driven to Wynyard Hall for the night and next morning into Durham, where large crowds watched as she arrived at Prebend’s Bridge and was greeted by the mayor, Henry Ferens (below).
He later recalled: “It was a lovely autumn morning but with a good deal of mist. As we arrived on Prebends Bridge to await her, the mist was obscuring the central tower of the cathedral. As we waited, the mist suddenly cleared and when the Princess got out of her car the sun was shining so that shafts of light came down through the trees of the riverbank, glowing on the autumn tints.
“When I showed her the view from the bridge, she said: ‘How absolutely beautiful. I had no idea Durham was so lovely’.”
Their first visit of the day was to Finchale Abbey Training College (above), where the princess visited a cobbler’s workshop and then toured the garden where gardening was taking place – she was too gracious to mention that all the students with their hands in the dirt were wearing inappropriate smart suits, white shirts, waistcoats and ties, but then she was probably marvelling at how immaculately straight all the plants in the beds were, how there were no weeds to be seen and how the lawn had a razor-sharp edge.
Visiting Finchale Training College in 1947
The main part of her visit was to lay the foundation stone for St Mary’s College for Women on Elvet Hill Road. The college had become part of the university in 1920 but its desire to have suitable premises had been thwarted by the Great Depression and then the Second World War.
Laying the foundation stone at St Mary's College and, below, greeting Durham officials and their wives on Palace Green (Picture courtesy of the Gilesgate Archive)
She then went to Palace Green for a final look-round before leaving.
A month later, on November 20, she married Prince Philip at Westminster Abbey and Durham – then famed for its floor coverings – sent a carpet as a present.
Representatives from all the places that had sent gifts were invited to the palace for a reception, and, on seeing Cllr Ferens, the princess strode over and said: “How nice to see you again so soon, Mr Mayor. I did enjoy my visit to Durham.”
Princess Elizabeth visiting Palace Green (above) and Durham Cathedral (below) on her first official visit in 1947
THE LAST
HER Majesty’s last visit to our area was probably in May 2015 when she visited Richmond Castle to mark the amalgamation of two regiments of Royal Lancers: the Queen's Royal Lancers and the Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales').
Led by lancers, 400 soldiers paraded through the damp streets to the castle where Her Majesty, resplendent in pink but protected from the elements by a makeshift awning, inspected them.
Queen Elizabeth at the bottom of the picture approaching the covered dais, big enough for one royal personage, from where she could inspect the troops at Richmond Castle
After an RAF flypast, the Queen met members of the regiment, including Warrant Officer Class II Richard Doherty.
He said: “I didn’t think the Queen would address me but she asked about my job – and my son Finley piped up to tell her he was four. She told him that was a very good age to be.”
Wise words from someone who was then aged 87, who might have added some advice about staying dry, because in 70 years of visits to the North East, there is not one report that talks of beautiful blue skies and wall-to-wall sunshine. All mention the damp and the chill, and many of the pictures feature umbrellas and Her Majesty waving through car windows speckled with raindrops.
That’s how the Echo’s photographer Sarah Caldecott captured the octogenarian monarch as she was driven away from Richmond, and the region, for the last time. Her tiny frame popping her head up in the rear seat so her bright, beady eyes could peer through the splatters running down the glass at the part of her kingdom she had first fallen in love with 70 years earlier.
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