QUEEN’S RETURN TO MALTA
THE Queen and Duke of Edinburgh yesterday recaptured a poignant moment from their past – recreating a famous photograph taken in Malta 66 years ago.
It was 1949 and the couple were newly married – the Queen a young Princess, the Duke the dashing first lieutenant of the destroyer HMS Chequers. He was based there until 1951.
Yesterday, on the third and final day of their Royal visit, they were photographed again looking out to the Grand Harbour in the capital Valletta as they bid an emotional farewell to the island.
It was a sentimental finale to a very personal State visit which saw the Queen open the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting supported by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall.
Security at the conference was tight with armed police patrolling the streets and the Maltese Army and rooftop snipers shadowing their movements.
The couple last visited Malta fleetingly in November 2007 for their diamond wedding anniversary, and the Queen had been eagerly anticipating this lengthier trip.
Wearing a bright turquoise A-line coat by Stewart Parvin and a matching hat by Angela Kelly, the Queen, 89, and Duke, 94, made an historic pilgrimage to Customs Wharf where the Queen unveiled a restored Commonwealth Walkway disc on the spot her father, George VI, had landed in