Her late Majesty’s visits to West Fife throughout her long reign remembered
DUNFERMLINE and West Fife enjoyed numerous visits from the late Queen Elizabeth II with the city having several personal connections with the monarch.
The material for the Queen’s wedding dress was spun in Winterthur Silks Ltd while her nanny, Marion Crawford, was raised here and is said to have passed on her love of Dunfermline to the two young princesses.
Taking a trip down memory lane, the Dunfermline Press archives show Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip visiting Rosyth Dockyard in 1953 and being introduced to Lord Elgin before leaving on the Royal Yacht Britannia for Norway.
In the background is a guard of honour formed by artificer apprentices of HMS Caledonia Rosyth.
In 1972, there was a visit to Dunfermline to celebrate the 900th anniversary of the founding of Dunfermline Abbey.
A civic lunch had been prepared in the King Malcolm Hotel at which the Queen arrived by car to be greeted by crowds of wellwishers waiting outside.
Prince Philip arrived by a different form of transport which was described at the time by the Press: “The crowd outside the hotel then transferred to the St Leonard playing fields on the other side of the dual carriageway.
“There, some 15 minutes after the Queen’s arrival, the Duke of Edinburgh landed in a redpainted helicopter of the Queen’s Flight.
“The Duke of Edinburgh flew the helicopter himself from the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh where he had been presenting gold awards under his scheme to young people from all over Scotland.
“When he alighted, the Duke was met by Sir John McWilliam and they walked to a car waiting in the slip road which skirts the playing fields.
“Crowds pressed hard against the Duke as he was about to enter the car and he quipped to 13-year-old Thomas McCaffrey, 36 Nith Street, Dunfermline: “How would you like a shot in the helicopter?””
A photograph captures the moment later that day when the royal visitors left the Abbey by the steps outside the magnificent Norman doorway of the Abbey Nave.
During the service, the Minister, the Reverend Stewart Macpherson, had reminded the Royal party and the congregation of the historical importance of Dunfermline.
He said: “This place was once described as the ‘Westminster Abbey of Dunfermline’ for here lie buried 22 members of the royal family – kings, queens, princes and princesses.
“Beneath this very pulpit in which I stand lies the body of
King Robert the Bruce.”
The Reverend Macpherson is also pictured presenting a commemorative bound copy of the Abbey brochure to the Queen after the service.
One of the most well-known Royal connections with Dunfermline is the fact that the Queen’s wedding dress for her marriage to Prince Philip was spun in Dunfermline, as mentioned in this Press article from November 22, 1947.
It stated: “In a setting of medieval splendour such as this country seemed for long to have forgotten, Princess Elizabeth, heiress-presumptive to the throne, and his Royal Highness, Duke of Edinburgh, were married on Thursday in Westminster Abbey.
“The wedding dress, designed by Norman Hartnell, was of ivory duchesse satin, woven in the Canmore factory of Winterthur Silks Ltd in Dunfermline.”
Various street parties took place in and around Dunfermline on the occasion of the Queen’s Coronation in 1953 with one photograph capturing a celebration in Wedderburn Crescent.
In 2003, the Queen visited Dunfermline to mark the100th anniversary of the founding of the Carnegie Dunfermline Trust. She is pictured on a walkabout in Pittencrieff Park where she met representatives of the many local organisations which were beneficiaries of the trust during its first 100 years.
The Queen was in West Fife in September 2017 to officially open the Queensferry Cross which she described as a “breathtaking sight” across the Forth, alongside its iconic and historic neighbours.
She attended the ceremony alongside Prince Philip and cut the ribbon on the £1.35 billion road bridge, exactly 53 years after she opened the Forth Road
Bridge.
As well as commenting on the magnificence of the bridge, the Queen said the new bridge would be an “important link” for so many in the community as well as its surrounding areas.
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were welcomed by hundreds of people, including First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, school children and project officials at the south end of the bridge to cut the ribbon before making their way over the highest bridge in the UK.
There was also a fly-past by the Red Arrows and a flotilla of boats travelled under the bridge as the national anthem was played.
Her Majesty made a short speech in Fife and unveiled a plaque to mark the historic occasion before the crowds enjoyed music from local musician King Creosote and superstar KT Tunstall.