Festive News 2017 by Hereford Lions Club | Page 39

HIGHLIGHTS OF SIX ROYAL VISITS TO THE CITY

FESTIVE NEWS • DECEMBER 2015 • PAGE 39

During her record breaking 63 years plus on the Throne, Queen Elizabeth has made six royal visits to Herefordshire and Festive News recalls some of those moments when flag waving crowds filled the streets to welcome Her
Majesty and Prince Philip. Hereford was always a Royalist town even if Cromwell’s army did defeat its defenders
and demolish our castle.

their families.. Bertram Bulmer presented her with a bottle of
cider brandy made in the cider museum. She had earlier given
him an oak tree from Windsor Park to make the barrels in
which the cider brandy would mature, so it was a fair swap.
The Queen was back in the city in 1996 for the official
opening of the newly built Mappa Mundi centre at the
Cathedral paid for my a £1m gift from Sir Paul Getty to house
the 13th century map of the world which had been at risk of
being sold to Japan. In 2003 Her Majesty asked to meet county
farmers who had been devastated two years earlier by a
massive outbreak of foot and mouth disease with whole herds
of cattle being slaughtered. She joined the farmers for a picnic
at The Mynde, Much Dewchurch.
Hereford would also play a big part in the Queen’s Diamond
Jubilee tour of Britain in 2012. The whole county gathered on
King George V playing fields to welcome her and Prince
Philip. It was one of the biggest jamborees ever held in the
ancient city. And as she has done since the day she was
crowned Queen way back in 1953, Her Majesty walked
amongst the crowds waving, smiling and stopping to chat.
That’s why the nation loves her so much. Long may she reign
over us.

Photo courtesy of Hereford Times

She beat her great- great grandmother, Queen Victoria to
become the longest serving Monarch on September 9 and it
brought back many happy and glorious memories for all those
who turned out to greet her over the years. After all they had
waited a long time – over 300 years – since the last reigning
monarch, King Charles 1 came calling.
She had been on the throne for four years when, in 1967 she
and Prince Philip arrived to open the new Langford sale ring at
the old cattle market and also paid a visit to the Bulmer