9 September - God Save the King
Today is obviously not a day to continue commenting on the new Government or
the parlous state of the nation. Yesterday another calamity diverted everyone’s attention from such things.
I remember the day that Queen Elizabeth ascended to the throne because I had had
ear ache all night and still suffering when Miss Goddard came into the third
year junior school class to tell us that the King had died. And then we resumed lessons.
Only once did I have a close encounter with Queen Elizabeth II. I had walked
from my office in the City to Waterloo Station intending to catch the 17:39 from Platform 9 to Basingstoke.
In those days the platforms at Waterloo Station were divided by a road which
allowed mail vans to park alongside the trains and exit through the central
arch. Between Platforms 9 and 10 if I remember correctly.
On that day, sometime before July 1967, access was barred and no one could cross
from one side of the station concourse to the other because the Queen was due in
on a boat train from Southampton following an overseas tour. I and hundreds of
other commuters had to stand and watch the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh go by in
their limousine. We were late home that night and I was not especially pleased about it.
How do I know it was before July 1967? Well that was when the last steam hauled
service ran to Waterloo and the Queen came in behind a Bulleid Pacific
locomotive. Probably the same one that should have taken me home.
Pictured is Prince Charles on a Savings Stamp which children of the 1950s were
encouraged to collect. Princess Anne only warranted a 6d stamp. (2·5 pence.)