It's Swindon, Ma'am!
Visits to Swindon by Queen Elizabeth II, our longest-serving monarch
Although Queen Elizabeth II no doubt passed through Swindon many times while using the Royal train for engagements in the South West, it is only on four occasions that she officially visited the town during her 70 amazing years on the throne - with November being definitely
'one's' favourite month for a Royal visit to Swindon.
We salute you, Your Majesty.
1. Town Centre Parade
As Princess Elizabeth
The first occasion occurred three years before Her Majesty was actually coronated, when she visited the town on the 15th November, 1950 as part of the Borough of Swindon's (Est. 1900) own Jubilee celebrations.
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First visit:
to the GWR works as Princess Elizabeth in 1950 |
Her Royal Highness travelled to Swindon from Paddington in London on the aptly named 'Star'-class locomotive No. 4057, The Princess Elizabeth.
Her first port of call being the then thriving GWR Railway Works to take a tour of the engineering factory and to officially name locomotive No. 7037 'Swindon', the last 'Castle'-class train to be built at the Works.
Her Royal Highness then moved on to be greeted by thousands of flag waving children when she opened Moredon playing fields as part of her second engagement of the day.
Queen's Park was the next stop of the Royal cavalcade, where the Princess unveiled a plaque to commemorate her official opening of the Garden of Remembrance.
Her first trip concluded with lunch at the Town Hall with the Mayor and other Swindon dignitories, together with a number of specially invited guests.
2. Wyvern Theatre Opening
First official visit as Queen
But it was to be another 21 years before Swindon was honoured by the first official visit of Queen Elizabeth II when she inaugurated the town's new Civic Centre, which included the Wyvern Theatre, on the 5th November, 1971.
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At the Wyvern:
inaugurated as part of the Civic Centre in 1971 |
Unfortunately, it was a day marred by bad weather; the Queen thankful for the cover offered by the special platform erected to commemorate the occasion while she made a brief speech before regally announcing the Centre open.
3. Gorse Hill Nursery
Plus almost time for shopping at The Brunel
The next visit is very well remembered by the pupils and staff of Gorse Hill Infant School where the Queen took time on a whistle stop tour to open their new nursery on the 7th November, 1997.
"It was a fantastic day for everyone at the school," remarked the Headmistress at the time, Mrs Prisca DaCunha.
"Her Majesty was so kind and warm and it was an honour that the Borough choose us for the visit."
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Opening Gorse Hill Nursery, 1997
calyx |
A large picture of Her Majesty which our Monarch kindly signed while at the school, still hangs proudly in the main assembly hall to remind the pupils and staff of the memorable day.
Beforehand, Her Majesty took in a tour of the Brunel Shopping Centre where waiting wellwishers handed her flowers and briefly chatted.
The Queen ended visit ended with a Civic lunch at Lydiard House.
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calyx |
4. Motorola
The Queen's last visit to Swindon occurred on the 26th October, 1998 when she visited the town to open the new £82 million pound Motorola factory at Groundwell.
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Inspecting Motorola, Swindon, 1998
calyx |
A Royal event that, at the time, truly encompassed how Swindon had developed from being the railway dominated town of her first in 1950 to being the base for new-world technology firms such as Motorola, Intel and Lucent as a new century beckoned.
Sadly, her 1998 appearance proved to be her last in Swindon, as the town wasn't included as a stop-off in the Queen's Jubilee tour of the UK in 2003 or her Platinum Jubilee of 2022.
King Charles III
When the people of Swindon can look forward to officially welcoming the new King, Charles III, we aren't sure, but with his former Wiltshire home in Tetbury not far away, we don't think it'll be long.
Most probably with a November date, of course.
SwindonWeb would like to thank Gorse Hill Infant School and Calyx Multimedia for their help in providing pictures for this feature.
