Colony delights in royal visit
ON March 6, 1970, The Fiji Times covered the Queen of England’s visit to her colony.
Suva was at a standstill when Queen Elizabeth, the Duke of Edinburgh and their only daughter Princess Anne, 19, visited our island nation.
The day began with a cultural and military pageantry, something Fiji was renowned for.
It ended with the soaring sounds of Isa Lei from the voices of a massed choir at the Suva wharf.
More than 10,000 people listened to the song in emotional silence as the Royal Yacht Britannia drew away in the gathering dusk.
Their eyes were fixed on the three figures bathed in the soft, white light of a flood lamp on the yacht’s upper deck.
At intervals of a few seconds, the figures would wave slowly.
The Queen, the Duke and the Princess were saying farewell to a country which had always been proud of its links to the British Crown.
The Queen also visited the Raiwaqa Housing Estate.
The royal family visited Fiji just seven months before the country gained independence.
If the farewell was sad, the earlier parts of the day provided a variety of moods.
There was the gaiety of a city decked with thousands of brightly coloured blooms, the holiday spirit of about 10,000 people who came to watch the royal visitors and the impressive dignity of traditional Fijian customs and military ceremonies.
There was a marked contrast in Suva’s welcome to the tumultuous and, at times, wild reception which greeted the royal visitors at Lautoka the Wednesday night they arrived by plane from Canada.
Although there was an air of excitement in the city streets, the presence of the royal visitors was the signal for the deferential silence reserved for persons of high rank.
Only occasionally did ripples of cheering break out.
More than 10,000 people packed the Kings Wharf to watch the Queen come ashore on the royal barge to be greeted by the Chief Minister, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara and Adi Lady Lala.
They were presented to Her Majesty by the Governor Sir Robert Foster.
After shaking hands with the Queen, Ratu Sir Kamisese and Adi Lady Lala sank to their knees on the matcovered deck of the floating landing pontoon and clapped in the traditional Fijian fashion.
The Queen chatted briefly with Ratu Sir Kamisese before she moved slowly up a gangway to the wharf.
There, she was met by a smiling Adi Sofia Veisa, the pretty eight-year-old daughter of Ratu Dr Dovi and Adi Losalini.
Adi Sofia presented the Queen with a bouquet containing the rare orchid, Tagimoucia, reputed to only grow by the shores of a mountain lake in Taveuni.
After the Queen accepted the bouquet, Adi Sofia, dressed in traditional masi, stepped back confidently and, still smiling, sank to her knees and clapped twice.
The Queen, smiling also, watched the little girl and did not move on until she had stood up and moved to the side of her mother.
Because the band of the Fiji Military Forces was taking part in the trooping the colour ceremony at Albert Park, the Fiji Police Band played accompanying music for the guard of honour at the Kings Wharf.