(Above photo - The Queen at her Coronation )
She touched people in different ways. Martin Worster Snr, Canonbury Antiques MD, shares his memories of his first sighting of the Queen in 1953. The Queen was a Londoner, born in Mayfair in 1926 and spending most of her life in London at Buckingham Palace. We are proud Londoners and Martin Snr was lucky enough to see her in 1953 at a crowded Marble Arch as part of the Coronation.
(Above photo - Princess Elizabeth )
"My first sight of our beloved Queen was on the Coronation day June 1953. My mum Alice took me to Marble Arch in London as a 7 year old boy. The area was naturally swarming with people and my mum found a gap as near to the road as she could. She had one of those mirrored cardboard box periscopes purchased from a street vendor. It was sadly of no use to me as my height obviously rendered it useless.
(Above photo - Can the carriage fit through Marble Arch? )
"A gentleman witnessed our plight and sat me on his shoulders for a grandstand view of Princess Elizabeth on her way to Westminster Abbey to be crowned Queen Elizabeth II in her fairytale golden coach. It is a spectacle that stayed in my mind to this day.
(Above photo - The Golden Carriage )
(Above photo - The Queen strolls on the lawn at a Buckingham Palace Garden Party )
"When I was installed as Mayor of Hertsmere some ten years ago, not only was I the first citizen of the Borough but more importantly I was representing the Queen for my 12 months term of office.
As a result along with the Mayoress my wife Pam we received an invitation to the summer Garden Party at Buckingham Palace. Here we met the Queen as she circulated amongst the guests.
The small boy of 7 had his dream of meeting the Queen fulfilled some 60 years after the Coronation. Sadly we now mourn the death of a wonderful lady who put service before self. She will be greatly missed by our country, the Commonwealth and the wider world. She was like a mother figure to all of us. God Bless The Queen Long Live The King!
A loyal subject Martin Worster Snr
(Above photo - Her final journey from Buckingham Palace to Westminster )
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