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News and Comment September 2022

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9 September - God Save the King

King Charles IIIToday 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.)

 

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