36
“They had to stop the Queen to let us through,” Lisa
later recalled. “I passed her at Norton Park and saw her from the ambulance.” The Royal couple visited again in 1997 and 2008. It was during her last visit to the town the Queen made a speech that contained her most heartfelt expression of affection for Dartmouth and BRNC. “It is here at the Royal Naval College, perhaps more than anywhere else, that I am reminded of how time flies by. My grandfather, father, husband and two sons have all undergone training here and I have had many visits over the years. I find it hard to believe that it is very nearly 70 years ago that I first came here with my parents just before the last war.” Although the Queen and Prince Philip had met
before, their initial meeting at BRNC was the first time Princess Elizabeth noticed the dashing naval cadet. In a letter to former court correspondent, the late
Betty Shaw, who was preparing a book on the Royal Family, the Queen reveals the first time she remembers meeting Philip was at the college.
The Queen’s last visit to Dartmouth 2008 Passing Out parade BRNC And she charmingly adds: “We may have met before
at the Coronation on the Duchess of Kent’s wedding, but I don’t remember.” It was the start of a relationship that lasted more than seven decades, becoming the backbone of British society and making Prince Philip the longest serving Royal consort ever. It was a relationship based on love, with the Queen
saying about her husband on their golden wedding anniversary in 1997: “He has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years.” Senior Royals, including Prince Charles, have since gained comfort from the couple’s reunion in death. In his first public broadcast as monarch, the King
said: “To my darling Mama, as you begin your last great journey to join my dear late Papa, I want simply to say this: thank you. “Thank you for your love and devotion to our family and to the family of nations you have served so diligently all these years. May ‘flights of Angels sing thee to thy rest’.”
Floral tributes in Royal Avenue Gardens, 2022
The Queen’s coffin on it’s way to Westminster Hall, 2022 (Martin Thomas)
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