FARMERS dyed their sheep crimson, white and blue in her honour in New Zealand.
In Australia, electrical energy poles saved crashing down from the burden of individuals clinging to them for a greater view.
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And in Jamaica, a person threw his coat over a puddle so the Queen wouldn’t must get her sneakers moist, within the spirit of Sir Walter Raleigh — and was promptly arrested for lunacy.
The world had by no means seen something just like the Queen’s five-and-a-half-month tour of the Commonwealth that started in November 1953.
And it has by no means seen something prefer it once more.
It was the primary time a reigning sovereign had ever visited lots of the international locations on the tour, together with Australia and New Zealand.
The epic tour was designed to harness the unprecedented reputation of the monarchy within the wake of the younger Queen’s coronation simply months earlier.
And it was completely exhausting — 43,000 miles by land, sea and air, being feted all the way in which.
It’s estimated she shook 13,213 palms, obtained 6,770 curtsies and heard 503 renditions of God Save The Queen.
She and Prince Philip left Charles, 5, and Anne, three, behind due to the gruelling schedule.
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They discovered it “ghastly” to say goodbye.
But it surely was additionally the beginning of an unbelievable journey for the 27-year-old Queen and 32-year-old Philip.
He recalled later: “The extent of adulation — you wouldn’t imagine it.”
First cease on November 24 was a one-night keep in Bermuda, the place fights broke out between American vacationers and native schoolchildren over one of the best viewing spots.
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Subsequent day it was Jamaica, the place lady-in-waiting Pamela Mountbatten complained: “The streets of Kingston had been festooned with a lot royal bunting, it was not possible to see what something actually regarded like.”
Then the couple boarded steamship SS Gothic, which had travelled to satisfy them carrying eight tonnes of bags for the remainder of the tour.
After passing via the Panama Canal, the ship arrived in Fiji on December 17.
Chieftains got here aboard to welcome the royals with a dance, then the Queen sipped on a seashell stuffed with the potent native drink kava, made with pounded roots combined with spit.
She was thrilled, and stated to Pamela Mountbatten on the finish of all of it: “Didn’t you like this!”
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Tonga was subsequent, the place the Queen was launched to the oldest resident — a 175-year-old tortoise offered to the nation by Captain Cook dinner in 1777.
In Tonga they have been warmly welcomed by Queen Salote and later 1000’s of enthusiastic Tongans.
Queen Salote, who had gained British hearts by cheerfully waving from an open carriage within the Coronation Day rain in London, did her finest to impress the Head of the Commonwealth with a luncheon feast that included 2,000 pigs, chickens, lobsters and yams, washed down with coconut milk.
But it surely was the following cease, New Zealand, when issues actually went loopy.
A cameraman referred to as her arrival on December 23 “just like the Second Coming”.
Three quarters of the nation’s inhabitants noticed the Queen throughout her five-week keep, however she didn’t get to see sufficient of these she was most all for — the Maori folks.
Time and again, white dignitaries hogged the sovereign’s time and refused to permit conventional ceremonies to go forward.
Woman Pamela revealed: “We have been so dissatisfied.”
From Auckland, Her Majesty delivered her annual Christmas Speech by radio to the Commonwealth, saying of her tour: “I wish to present that the Crown will not be merely an summary image of our unity, however a private bond between you and me.”
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After a couple of days’ relaxation at sea, the royals steamed into Sydney Harbour on the morning of February 3, 1954.
Half 1,000,000 folks out of a inhabitants of 1.8million turned out on the shores to look at them arrive.
Tens of 1000’s had slept exterior to safe one of the best spots, and locals stated the night time had been lit up by the glow of campers’ cigarettes.
One Boer Warfare veteran, who had waited 5 hours for a glimpse, instructed a newspaper: “God bless her, I fought for her great-great grandmother Queen Vicky.”
In all, as in New Zealand, three quarters of Australia’s inhabitants would see her throughout a two-month keep that noticed her criss-cross the nation by street, rail and air.
It was the peak of summer season, and a younger Clive James recalled ready within the warmth to see the royals along with his schoolmates “fainting left and proper, as if their serried ranks have been topic to sniper fireplace”.
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However the Queen by no means even broke right into a sweat. Woman Pamela defined that the Queen merely didn’t perspire, including: “Meaning she will’t get aid, so she suffers twice as a lot from the warmth.
“She says no perspiration makes it a lot worse.”
However the Queen solely had ideas for many who got here to see her.
Woman Pamela defined: “She was very meticulous within the motorcades that the automobile ought to go slowly sufficient for folks to get a correct view.
She used to say, ‘What’s the purpose in coming except they will see me?’ ”
Typically they have been going so slowly that the Queen might overhear what folks have been saying, which was typically that she regarded fed up.
She instructed a staffer: “It’s terrible. I’ve received the sort of face that if I’m not smiling, I look cross.
“However I’m not cross. Should you attempt to smile for 2 hours constantly it offers you a nervous tic.”
Nevertheless, the epic tour took its toll.
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A WORLD TOUR
At one level the Queen complained to Philip: “All these mayors are so boring, boring, boring. Why are they so boring?”
And through a couple of days’ relaxation in a chalet exterior Melbourne, a digicam crew ready exterior have been startled when Philip burst out of the door with a pair of tennis sneakers and a racquet flying after him.
The Queen then emerged, shouting at him to come back again, and dragged him inside.
Your entire scene was caught on movie, however a courtier charged out “angrier than a wounded buffalo” and ordered the cameraman handy over the footage.
Subsequent out was the Queen, now all serene.
She stated: “I’m sorry for that little interlude, however as you recognize it occurs in each marriage.”
The royals lastly steamed out from a harbour close to Perth, certain throughout the Indian Ocean for a quick cease on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.
Then it was on to Ceylon — now Sri Lanka — the place the glass beads on the Queen’s gown received so scorching within the solar they may not be touched.
A fast pause adopted in Aden, now a part of Yemen, then two nights in Uganda, the place the Queen opened a brand new dam on Lake Victoria, sending water crashing down into the White Nile.
From there, they flew to Tobruk in Libya, the place Prince Charles and Princess Anne have been ready.
The children had travelled aboard the Britannia on her maiden voyage, and the brand new ship then took all of them to Malta for a couple of days.
Then lastly all of them sailed residence to London, the place on Might 15 a banner on Tower Bridge greeted them with the phrases: “Welcome Dwelling”.
Tens of 1000’s of individuals lined the banks of the Thames.
Their Queen was residence, and her reign as British monarch and Head of the Commonwealth household of countries might start in earnest.
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