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The new Queen travelled down  Chiswick High Road in 1952.

The Queen's 95th birthday yesterday reminds me of the occasion in February 1952 when Her Majesty travelled down the High Road following her arrival back in the UK from Kenya...where she had been enjoying a holiday and then hearing the news of the death of her father King George VI.At that moment she became Queen...but not "coronated" until the following year.(2nd June 1952...with Mount Everest having just been climbed for the first time..and the news held back till the 2nd)So soon after becoming Queen and arriving at Heathrow...she was entering the Borough of Brentford and Chiswick in her Royal Limousine...passing the crowds...with me too...outside Gunnersbury Station.The Duke of Edinburgh must have been in a following car...as she was alone..in the back seat...looking pale from the obvious make up to mask the Kenyian suntan.A little bit of local history.

Jim Lawes ● 2014d4 Comments

Interesting Jim. Thank you.Do you also remember Eisenhower's visit in 59?My parents and I stood beside the Great West Road to watch him and Macmillan go by on their way from Heathrow to London. If memory serves they were in an open top limousine  smiling at the onlookers.

Adrian Irving ● 2014d

Morning Jim..Good call..  Enjoyed..That aside, your date typo brought back immediate memories of the opening lines of a Radio 3 documentary I wrote and produced back in the 1980's...“1953 was a year to remember, not just for the coronation and the conquest of Everest but for an event of far greater significance to mankind – the discovery of the secret of life!”

Stuart Kerr ● 2014d

I understand that Eisenhowers visit was in September 1959 by which time the Chiswick Flyer was perhaps open and not the M4 through to Hogarth Roundsbout.I missed all that...serving Her Majesty in Cyprus doing National Service (A cushy number in Nicosia I might add!)

Jim Lawes ● 2014d

The Duke of Edinburgh was in the car on the left hand side the Queen was on the right. I have never seen anyone so tiny( they were in the old style royal car) and all in black.  I remember this as if it was yesterday I was outside my school on Hammersmith Broadway aged 11.

Anne O ● 2013d