HM the Queen’s 70 years on the throne

SEVENTY YEARS AGO Thursday February 14, 1952

In honour of the 70th anniversary of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the British throne, the Courier this week features a four-page From Our Files special. The Queen, photographed when she was Princess Elizabeth, took power on February 6 1952, following the death of her father, the late king George VI, left.

At the weekend, when the Nation and Empire mourned the loss of the beloved king, Elizabeth, his elder daughter, was proclaimed Queen.

This mediaeval pageantry in the capital cities of Britain and the Empire followed The Queen's accession declaration at Saint James’s Palace, London.

In the Royal Burghs and at other places, including ships and stations of the Royal Navy, Queen Elizabeth II was proclaimed ‘by the grace of God, Queen of this Realm and of her other Realms and Territories, Head of the

Commonwealth, and Defender of the Faith’. At Campbeltown, the proclamation ceremony took place at noon on Saturday.

It was a cold, bleak day and even from a blue sky, decked with drifting white clouds, there was hardly a glint of winter sunshine.

The fishing boats lay huddled together in the harbour, the gulls wheeled and the crowd gathered in a wide semi-circle at the head of the Old Quay between the Christian Institute and the hotel.

A specially-constructed wooden dias had been erected in front of the Old Campbeltown Cross, placed in a new site since the proclamation of King George VI was read.

Then, the old runic cross, which is said to have been brought from Iona, was in Main Street near the Town Hall.

The new site, whatever else might commend it, certainly provided an opportunity for a fitting civic procession before and after the traditional reading.

Members of the Town Council, magistrates, councillors with officials and ex-provosts, the sheriff, honourable sheriff substitutes, the captain and the commander of the Royal Naval Air Station and the commanding officers of the two Territorial Army units, preceded by a guard of honour from the Royal Naval Station Machrihanish, HMS Landrail, took part in the procession, led by Provost Robert Wallace

Greenlees MBE wearing his chain of office; Sheriff J Aitken Smith in wig and gown and the Town Clerk Mr A I B Stewart.

The naval guard marched smartly with bayonets fixed.

Overcoats were the order of the day. A contingent of Campbeltown police, under Inspector Robert J MacKay, escorted the procession.

The naval detachment of petty officer and 24 ratings and two buglers wheeled to the right at the foot of Main Street and took up a position facing the cross, with their backs to the assembly of townspeople numbering between 700 and 800.

The proclamation was read in firm tones over the amplifying system clearly and distinctly.

Every window within sight of the cross and in proximity to the Old Quay seemed to be occupied.

Left: A photograph of the Queen which appeared in the Courier on February 14, 1952. It was taken when, as Princess Elizabeth, she arrived at the French Embassy in London for a state banquet given by the French President and Madame Vincent Auriol.