Our Beloved Queen

The king is dead long live the queen.

When I watched the King arriving by plane in Canada recently, it reminded me of when his parents came in 1971.

 When King George VI died on February 6, 1952, his daughter Elizabeth became queen. She reigned for 70 years and 214 days the longest reign of any British monarch.

Although I did not meet her personally, I did see her twice in person and the longer she reigned the more I was impressed by her. On May of 1971 Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip had a refueling stopover at the Fort St. John B.C. airport.

Several thousand people gathered to see her including Canadian Legion members, army cadets and local bands.

That year Gordon Adlard had started the Fort St. John Rotary Pipe Band. Playing for the queen was our first performance.

It was reported that Prince Philip was overheard saying that the band had one piper who could play. Philip, unlike the queen, added spice to conversations. As a drummer I cannot comment on his judgement.

Twenty years before playing for the Queen in Fort St. John, I saw Elizabeth when she was still a princess. Because her father King George VI was sick, Elizabeth and her husband Philip made a tour of Canada in his stead.

As an eight-year-old Brownie I went with other members of my pack to Kamloops. Lisa Lattey, who was standing eight or nine girls to my left, got to visit with the princess. We were all envious of Lisa as we were not so favoured. It was not a coincidence that we would travel to see Princess Elizabeth.

Our Brownie pack met in the Anglican Church Hall and our Brown Owl Miss Nichols was very British.