Unpublished photo of The Queen is shared by town man as she marks her 95th birthday
PICTURE WAS ‘TAKEN BY HOLDING MY BOX CAMERA ABOVE MY 13-YEAR-OLD HEAD’
A GRIMSBY man has shared an unpublished photo of The Queen before her crowning.
Today marks Queen Elizabeth II’s 95th birthday - but she is sadly celebrating it while mourning her beloved husband, Prince Philip. Queen Elizabeth II became the thirty-ninth Sovereign to be crowned at Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953.
Just months earlier, on October 24, 1952, The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh visited Shrewsbury School. Richard Bellamy, then a 13-year-old schoolboy, captured a photograph of The Queen during her visit.
Richard, who is in his 80s and is from Grimsby, said: “Photos at the time were rare and this was taken by holding my box camera above my 13-year-old head.
“This has never been published before, as far as I know.”
The Queen made her visit during Richard’s first-term at Shrewsbury School, when the school’s roll was about 545. The Royals spent about 20 minutes in the library viewing manuscripts, early books and bindings. The students also enjoyed a mass PT display, the Guard of Honour, the opening of the Queen’s Terrace, and a chapel service, where the schoolboys joined together to sing the National Anthem.
A statement on Shrewsbury School’s website reads: “As a postscript to this Royal day, a group of boys, finding the sherry which the Queen and the staff had enjoyed unattended in the Moser Buildings, felt there would be no harm in joining in the general festivities with a loyal toast.”
In the months following the Queen’s visit, Richard recalls being called into the headmaster’s office. He added: “He shouted ‘Bellamy’ and I thought ‘Oh no, what have I done’.” But instead of receiving a scolding, Richard was handed a letter from the Lady- in- Waiting sent via Windsor Castle. Richard added: “You will see the great letter I got back from Windsor Castle saying she really liked it.” The letter from Windsor Castle reads: “Dear Richard,
“I write at The Queen’s command to thank you for your letter, and for your very kind thought in sending the delightful photograph of Her Majesty.
“The Queen has much pleasure in accepting this, and bids me send you her sincere thanks. “Yours cerely, Waiting.” Richard, who worked as the High Sheriff in Humberside in 1981, proudly displays his photograph and his accompanying letter in his home. He added: “It’s just one of the extraordinary things to happen. It probably made me more of a royalist.”
It’s just one of the extraordinary things to happen. It probably made me more of a
royalist.
Richard Bellamy
sinLady-in