The Queen and Me The Queen's Diamond Jubilee

In the summer of 1953, a group of amateur filmmakers captured this

wonderful colour footage

of the Queen's Coronation celebrations,

held in towns and villages in Northern Ireland.

Soon, they would have the chance to film the new queen herself,

as she arrived here for a three-day visit, her first stop

on an ambitious seven-month tour of the Commonwealth.

Through these evocative images and the personal memories

of some of those who were there, we're going to tell the story

of that unique royal tour, and what it meant to us.

So, here I am

in Lady Grey's sitting room in Hillsborough Castle,

which is the Queen's official residence

when she's in Northern Ireland.

Now, during the programme, I'm going to try and piece together

that quite remarkable visit back in 1953,

to find out where the Queen went, exactly,

who did she meet en route and, from my own point of view,

how Northern Ireland has changed since I was a young girl.

I was 13 at the time.

In fact, I have my own very special memory

of seeing the Queen that summer.

I was cycling along a country road,

and I had to pull in close to the hedge

because a cavalcade of cars drove past,

and there in one of the cars, I saw for myself the young Queen.

She was on her way here, to Hillsborough Castle.

It was only four weeks after her Coronation,

an event that captivated the nation.

As you can imagine, I'm really enjoying this,

and probably the only opportunity I'll ever have to sit on a throne.

But I do remember Coronation Day very, very clearly.

All the kids, of course, got a day off school and at home, somewhere,

I still have my little Coronation mug, which we all received.

But we didn't have a television in our house in those days,

and there was only one woman in our entire road

whom I knew did have one. She was called Mrs McCracken.

So I was the first in line, early on that day, to say,

"Please, can I come in and watch the Coronation?"

Thankfully, she let me in.

'From now, until after five o'clock this afternoon,

'television cameras take you into the heart of London

'to watch and share in each phase of this great day's events.'

Televisions were few and far between in the '50s.

Most people had to make do

with listening to the commentary of the Coronation

on the good old wireless.

So, when we heard that the Queen was coming to Northern Ireland,

and that we might actually get to see her in the flesh,

well, the excitement was palpable.

All of a sudden, you have this very young woman

who's going to be the new queen, and so after

a difficult period of world conflict and austerity,

you now have this new young woman coming to the throne,

which was quite exciting.

Of course, not everyone here was a fan of the monarchy,

but it does seem that there was

an overwhelming feeling of goodwill towards this visit.

Royal visits to Northern Ireland

always have the potential to be sensitive,

because there's always the, there is a minority

within the Northern Ireland population

who are assumed to be opposed to the visit.

That's not always the case. It's not a simple opposition -

Unionists and Protestants love the monarchy coming

and Nationalists and Catholics don't like the monarchy coming.

I mean, nothing is a simple opposition.

There are people who found it just as exciting

to have the Queen going past and lots of pomp and ceremony,

and people dressed up nicely and buglers bugling and so on,

whatever their political background,

because they'd been through a long war,

and things were quite dull and it was quite exciting.

When he heard the Queen was coming to Northern Ireland,

Harold Paterson saw an opportunity

to film something other than family parties and church outings.

But how was an amateur camera enthusiast from Lisburn

going to get anywhere near the Queen?

In those days, we knew the police in our towns,

and even the County Inspector.

He was in the shop one day and I said to him,

"Any chance of getting a pass

"to take photographs of the Royal visit?"

So he said, "I'll see what I can do."

So a few days later, I got the letter from his office,

authorising me to take cinema film

of the Queen's visit.

Clutching his letter of permission,

Harold made straight for Aldergrove,

where the Queen was due to land.

This was the camera that I had when I arrived at Aldergrove.

It was small, so, of course, it looked like an amateur,

which I was, really.

But then, when I arrived, they put me with the press, actually.

So, of course, these men all have their big cameras

and there's about 15 press men there,

and you soon learn, actually, why they're taking their photographs.

They want them for the paper or whatever,

and they're all out to get their photographs,

so don't worry about who's behind them.

So, they just stand in front of your lens.

But I enjoyed it, and then, as I went,

I always kept away from the press.

At the various venues, I was able to move around, I discovered that.

Nobody asked a question.

I had complete freedom to take my photographs.

Having got the shots he wanted,

Harold then jumped into his Austin 10

to get ahead of the Royal party,

so that he could film them driving into Lisburn.

His film captures the excitement and enthusiasm

of those who lined the roads along the way.

One of those waiting to see the Queen at Lisburn

was Eileen Matchett.

That's my mother and these are just people that were in the crowd.

We had all Union Jacks, and I'm here in the corner

and we're waiting in Lisburn for the Queen to go through.

Eileen would get an even better view of the Queen

later that evening, back home in Hillsborough,

where the Queen stayed for the duration of her visit.

There was a big dinner on in the castle,

and everybody in Hillsborough was out.

She came out onto this balcony, sort of place,

and then everybody cheered and cheered

and God Save The Queen, you know.

So, on the very first night that the Queen came

to Hillsborough Castle, she would have had dinner in this room

and then she came out on these very steps to be serenaded,

if that's the word, by two Lambeg drummers.

My husband was mad keen on the Lambeg drums.

Any chance he ever got, he played the drums.

We were all there and he came over and said

that he had been invited into the castle,

inside, to play the drums, take the drums in.

'The Queen meets Donald Crooks and Garfield Matchett,

'two of a large party of Lambeg drummers,

'who give their own special Orangemens' welcome.'

He came back smiling like mad,

and he told us about the Queen asking him, was he married,

and he said yes, he was just married.

They got a big cheer,

cos they had been in seeing the Queen.

Very proud of them. Very proud. I thought it was great.

The next day was packed with royal engagements.

Again, Harold filmed the whole occasion.

At the City Hall, there was all the pomp and ceremony

you'd expect for such a visit,

with members of the Army, RAF and Royal Navy

lining the surrounding streets.

At Queens University, a problem with the flag,

whether a student prank or a political protest,

was quickly forgotten, as eager crowds

got their first glimpse of the Queen.

COMMENTATOR: The Queen, in a steel blue silk coat, very full-skirted,

and a small hat, quite close and her hair curling over the brim,

pearls and a diamond broche and bracelet, looking so lovely.

Her clothes and the clothes of all of those people who were

attending events were commented upon quite a lot.

And, really, the way to think about that is, first of all,

that she is a celebrity,

and we know now about celebrities who can't come out in the morning

without their pyjamas being talked about,

so you're looking at her, thinking, "What is she wearing?

"What colour is she wearing? And look at her handbag,

"and look at the ladies who are with her and what they're wearing."

But it's a period of big change for women,

so women...in Northern Ireland, particularly,

women have been involved in a lot of the war industries.

They've had rationing, they've had queuing,

they've had looking after children, they've had fear about,

you know, more bombing, and it's quite nice to think about

what somebody's wearing and whether you think they look nice or not.

Sharing your opinions about what shade her dress really was,

so that part of the visit isn't superficial.

It's an important part for people to be able to talk about

and to think, "Well, hasn't she turned out very smart?

"Isn't she lovely?"

The garden party at Stormont provided the perfect setting

for local ladies to show off their own finery.

Inside the Great Hall,

the Queen addressed the assembled politicians.

'As your Queen, I am now even more closely concerned

'with the affairs of Northern Ireland.

'And I assure you that I shall always strive

'to repay your loyalty and devotion

'with my steadfast service to you all.

'May God give you wisdom and faith in all your labours,

'and may the future bring peace, contentment and true happiness

'to the people of Northern Ireland.'

At a youth rally at Balmoral,

so many thousands of children came to see the Queen

that extra trains had to be laid on to bring them.

Alistair Simpson was one of a group of boys' brigade members

who made the journey from Londonderry

to see the Queen at Balmoral.

We had to go early in the morning,

about seven, eight o'clock in the morning.

We were so exuberant, getting there, and excited.

The whole lot of us were all around the same change age group,

young teenagers.

And we were all wondering how we were going to see her,

what she was going to say when she'd seen us.

We all thought that we were so important that she would stop

and have a conversation with us.

You imagine 24,000 children stuck in Balmoral Showgrounds

for six hours or seven hours,

and how many of them needed to find where the toilets were,

and somebody who got lost.

You can just imagine it must have been mayhem.

I was fairly small at that time,

and the small ones were always put at the front,

and the bigger ones were put at the back.

So I got a good view.

But it was interesting to see her.

She looked so small, compared to what you would think.

You expect these people to be maybe six foot tall.

Afterwards, we went to the cinema to see the whole thing,

and you could see faces you recognised.

And you'd say, "Is my face going to come up?

"I'm going to be famous, you know.

"This is great, getting up on the big screen."

But, that was the boyhood dream that you had at the time.

It had been a dream come true

for thousands of people who saw the Queen in Belfast.

But the organisers of this visit were keen to take the Queen

out of Belfast into the country

where people, who would normally never get to see her,

could be part of the occasion.

On the last day of the Queen's visit,

a special train was laid on to take her from Lisburn to Londonderry,

stopping off at places like Ballymena, Ballymoney and Coleraine.

I can remember where I was on the 3rd July, like yesterday.

Frank Dunlop was a railwayman all his working life.

I was doing the 12.40 to Belfast,

and then the 5.25 from Belfast to Londonderry.

And we were put up a siding in Coleraine,

until the royal train arrived in Coleraine.

And then we left Coleraine and went to Ballymoney.

You weren't allowed to use your engine whistle.

That was a distraction.

'This is very different from the trains I'd have travelled in,

'in the 50s, going from, say, Portadown to Belfast.'

They were steam.

And they were pretty dirty at times.

But, do you know what? I loved them, and I still have a passion for them.

But, naturally, the Queen wouldn't have travelled in any old train.

She had a rather posh one.

The 102 was the engine that took the royal train

and had been in the works getting some overhaul or repair.

So they decided that they'd take 102.

It was in the best mechanical condition after being in the works.

But they had a problem.

Because 102 had no name.

The name, Queen Elizabeth, was number 100.

It was too big a problem to overhaul number 100 for the royal train,

so they took the name plate off 100 and put it onto 102,

just for the time.

Once that was over, it was taken off the following week

and put back onto 100 again.

As you might imagine,

the press could not get enough of the royal visit.

I have actually a page from the Belfast Newsletter.

And I love the way they describe the train the Queen was travelling on.

It says, "The coaches are blue and cream.

"All shining and newly painted.

"Inside, Ulster linen, Ulster carpets,

"and dark polished mahogany have brought a new luxury

"to the compartments in which the Queen and the Duke will travel."

And then, they also show

a picture of this beautiful lounge on the train.

Very comfy chairs. Absolutely gorgeous.

Decked out with flowers, etc.

Then, on a different page in the paper,

it says, "No modern plastics

"could possibly compete with the magnificent,

"aged mahogany panelling.

"No ultra-modern design could better the simple dignity of its form.

"So it is, throughout the whole 100-feet-long train.

"And even the locomotive which will pull it

"was built at York Road workshops in Belfast, more than 13 years ago."

So the detail is fantastic.

And I have to say, the train looks magnificent.

There was some debate at the time

as to who should drive the royal train.

The reason Joe Shields was taken to drive the royal train,

he was the senior driver.

Now, there was a rumour

that Joe Shields shouldn't have been driving the royal train,

because he was over 65, and should have been retired.

And the reason some people told

was that the records were lost in The Blitz,

and everybody had to get a new birth certificate.

And he belonged to Ballymoney,

and Ballymoney was full of Shieldses.

And he got a birth certificate that wasn't his.

And that was how he was supposed to be under 65.

There was an enormous amount written

when Queen Elizabeth II becomes Queen about a new Elizabethan age.

This was a new Elizabethan age

with a modernity, and the modern family woman, and so on.

And the idea that she would be progressing through her realm,

and the idea that she would be doing this on a train,

through Northern Ireland,

there is something both traditional and ancient,

as well as trying to be very modern and forward looking.

So, you have all of these tensions,

these temporal tensions around what she's doing.

And I just really like this idea of advertising this

as this modern woman is going to come,

and then go on this Edwardian train.

People turned out in huge numbers

to see the Queen at all the stations along the route.

They stood in the fields, they hung off telegraph poles

and raced alongside the train in tractors,

in an effort to catch sight of the royal party.

I have to admit,

I find all the detail that was recorded absolutely intriguing.

For example, "4,000 children joined in Ballymena's welcome.

"For nearly two hours, before the train was due to stop at Ballymena,

"children had gathered at the station.

"Guides, very neat in their bright blue glasses and navy skirts,

"the brownies, scouts and cubs, with bright bird-like eyes.

"And everybody clutching a flag."

But it was down to nine-year-old Eileen Roberta Simpson,

who was the daughter of the town clerk.

And she was the one who presented the Queen with cushion covers.

So that was the gift of the day.

I do remember walking down this slope,

which had a red carpet.

And on either side, painted white borders.

And, behind me came a man with a hand-brush shovel,

brushing my footsteps, so that it would be immaculate for Her Majesty.

As the daughter of the town clerk,

Roberta Simpson was chosen to present the Queen

with a gift from the people of Ballymena.

I don't remember being nervous.

I think perhaps my parents were nervous, on my behalf.

I was concentrating on the lines which I had learnt, which were,

"May it please Your Majesty to receive this gift,

"on behalf of the people of Ballymena."

I'm sure I said it in my sleep every night for a few weeks beforehand.

I was taken to my father's office to see the box.

And was told to practise carrying it around his office,

to get the feel of it.

I think both my parents were very worried

that I would drop the box on the day.

But that, thank goodness, didn't happen.

I'm not sure whether it was my mother poking me,

or somebody else indicating, or my father nodding,

that that was the time that I was to take the box,

and climb those stairs,

and hand the box to the Queen.

She thanked me.

But the words that I do remember were the Duke of Edinburgh,

because he said, "Oh, what a big box you've got."

And that was exactly what I was thinking.

Another little girl at the time remembers the occasion very well.

My father who was a guard,

was the oldest member of staff in Ballymena at the time.

So, he had the honour of opening the door for the Queen.

And all the railway staff got lovely new uniforms for that day.

I can remember my father getting dressed up at home,

and practising his bow,

saying he was opening the door to the Queen, he had to practise.

But he didn't have to, but it was a bit of fun,

him practising his bow for the Queen coming out.

Kathleen Carey's father

got her a plum position on the station platform.

We were quite near. I think we were nearer than we should have been.

Honestly. I always remember that bit.

What strikes me, just looking at all the reports,

is just how up close people got to the Queen.

They were right there, face to face.

And you've got to remember that in those days, very few people had TVs,

so we had to depend on newsreel at the cinema

or, indeed, reading in the newspaper to have a look at the Queen.

So to think of all these people so close to her

in a small place like Ballymoney, well, it was magical.

The kind of excitement that people now articulate about William and Kate

and the new royals and how young and a new generation

and faith in the future

is kind of what was being invested in her, you know,

and that's a huge burden, obviously, for her to hold.

But it's part of that.

And you see in photographs of her in 1953

just how young - very polished and very composed -

but just how young she is, you know, during this whole visit.

I was there because I was in charge of the St John Ambulance,

the cadet division, which I had started.

And we were all geared up. We hardly knew where we were.

We were so excited.

I think the people of Ballymoney were quite amazed

that Ballymoney was one of the towns selected

to be visited.

Although it was a very short visit,

the idea that they would come to Ballymoney

was not something that people really thought would happen.

My mother was the principal of the school,

and I was the assistant,

and she had been allocated a position in the railway station,

on the platform.

So I had the responsibility then of bringing the children down

from the Ballymoney playground, where they had congregated.

And we wended our way down, toddling down as quickly as children would go,

down High Street, Main Street, Seymour Street,

down to the station yard.

Oh, I still remember that day, because who would forget it?

I mean, the children were absolutely wonderful, they were all in line

and doing what they were told, and each waving their little Union Jack.

The schoolchildren were all in an enclosure at the front,

and we were all supposed to stand there, and that was our bit.

But when the excitement of the train came and the Queen got out,

the adults were so excited

that many of the women, for example, jumped the rope

and came in amongst us to get a better view.

And there was great excitement

and nearly pandemonium at one stage, I think.

We had a great view,

and everybody was just so pleased to see their queen.

This RAF band played the national anthem,

and quite spontaneously the people all sang the anthem.

And, of course, in the enclosed space of the station yard,

it sort of reverberated, and the noise was colossal.

I remember seeing her looking quite pale,

and she looked kind of nervous and kind of shaky

when this great noise started.

I don't think she spoke to very many,

but the Duke of Edinburgh spoke to a number of people.

This is the Prince speaking to me. There I am, in there,

my little white hat. Oh, he was lovely to talk to.

And, of course, being a young girl, as I was,

I knew he'd picked out

the best-looking one at the railway station!

I always remember a schoolboy friend of mine

had called with my grandmother on the evening of the royal visit,

and my grandmother said to him, "Well, did you see the Queen?"

And he said, he did. And she said, "What did you think of her?"

And this wee boy said,

"Oh, she's just like our Jean."

As the train moved slowly out,

the band again played the national anthem,

and everybody again sang.

And that was it, and it was all over in about ten minutes!

HE LAUGHS

Of course, so much has changed since 1953, but you know what?

Looking out at the fields and the towns, as we travel along,

it's not really that different to what the Queen would have seen

from her royal saloon on the train all those years ago.

After Ballymoney,

the royal party travelled on towards the spectacular North Antrim coast.

Now, this is Downhill Strand,

and it was actually here that the train stopped on that particular day

so that the royal party could enjoy the magnificent view

and have their lunch.

Now, on the menu that day there were prawns in aspic,

there was shoulder of mutton, or lamb, I might say,

and, of course, strawberries and cream.

Well, I'm enjoying the view tremendously,

and, of course, here I have

my prawns - not exactly in aspic jelly, but lovely -

I have my lamb, of course, here, and a very nice salad,

and I have my strawberries and cream.

So I can kind of re-enact that royal lunch.

From Downhill, the royal train travelled on

to the last destination of the day,

Londonderry.

Now, all along the route, people had amazing access to the Queen,

but that doesn't mean that security was lax,

and as she came nearer to Londonderry, it became even tighter.

The Queen going to Derry is seen as,

you know, the triumphal progress of her train

through the Northern Ireland, you know, hinterland,

and off she goes to Derry.

And a third of the RUC force had been sent to Derry, just in case.

Now, tucked away on this page, the headline goes,

"'B' Men Were Mobilised As Guards - Record Security Network By The RUC".

It says, "The personal safety of the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh

"on their journey today was ensured

"by the most extensive security network ever spun

"by the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

"Throughout the week, watch was kept night and day

"on all the 90 miles of rail track between Lisburn and Londonderry."

You know when they send that many police to Derry

that they know that, really, there's an awful lot of discontent

just below the surface, all the time, just below the surface,

and they're afraid that something will embarrass them,

that something will happen

while the cameras of the world are in Northern Ireland.

But the Queen had a particular reason

to want to go to Northern Ireland's second city,

for it had played a pivotal role in the war effort.

She probably would have wanted to go to thank those people herself.

I mean, she has an extraordinarily strong sense of duty

and of her role as monarch,

and she would have seen it as the right thing to do,

to thank people for their efforts during the war.

It's still very much, you know, a post-war context.

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh

made the final leg of the journey into Londonderry by boat,

arriving to cheering crowds at the Guildhall.

Jeanette Wark had been looking forward to this moment for weeks.

I do remember hearing the Queen was coming.

I'll tell you, it was a big event in the house

when we found out that all the Brownies in the city at that time

and the uniformed organisations

were invited to come along and to line the route.

Looking forward to actually going there to stand and wait, and,

you know, the Queen coming,

it was just like a fairy tale for us, to be honest.

You know, and the preparation leading up to it

was exciting, as well.

Well, I do remember one way that I got ready,

and it was like a horror story,

sleeping on pipe cleaners in my hair all night.

And I remember, of course, that the big tin bath was brought in

and you were scrubbed, till you'd no skin left.

And, of course your hair was gleaming,

but twirled up in these long pipe cleaners,

which men used to clean out their pipes.

But it was a form of a curler in those days, to make your hair curly.

And I had very straight hair, so my mum was determined

that this straight hair was going to be really curly.

But do you know, the one thing that sticks in my mind

is actually seeing the huge black car,

and I can see the Queen, I can just see her sitting, a young girl,

you know, and the car so perfect.

As the Queen and Prince Philip flew out of Eglinton Airport,

I'm sure there was the most enormous sense of relief

on behalf of those who'd organised the visit

that it had all gone so well,

and believe me, it was a really great success.

Now, naturally, there have been many, many royal visits since then,

but I don't think there's ever been the magic or the intimacy

of those three fabulous sunny days in 1953.

And from my own point of view,

seeing the Queen in that open-top car

in the countryside not far from here

is certainly a sight that I personally will never forget.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd