As Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her Diamond Jubilee in 2012 - the then-86-year-old monarch marking 60 years on the throne - a television reporter from a Canadian news network observed “some optimistic people” were already looking forward to the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022.
The optimism felt by those people was justified, as today marks the 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s ascension to the throne Feb. 6, 1952.
Jubilee celebrations for the now 95-year-old monarch will be held over the course of this year in the United Kingdom, Canada and throughout the Commonwealth, most of those festivities to take place in the warmer summer months.
Queen Elizabeth II is the Head of State of the United Kingdom, Canada and 13 other Commonwealth countries, her reign the longest of any British monarch, having reached that distinction of longevity in December 2007.
Though only three years old when the Queen visited Canada to officially open the Commonwealth Games in Edmonton in August 1978, Sault Ste. Marie’s Tressa Van Midde shared a special memory of meeting the monarch at that time.
“My sister Alicia (then six) and I were waiting to meet the Queen who would be walking by and receiving flowers from some of the ladies in the crowd. My sister was given a bouquet of carnations to hand to the queen. We were taught how to curtsy in front of her. I, being young, hyper and impatient, made a fuss about not having flowers to give the Queen,” Van Midde said.
“My mom made my sister give me one single flower to keep me quiet, so to speak, and it worked. I was thrilled. As the Queen made her way closer to us I was overwhelmed with excitement. When she was right in front of us I stretched my arm out as far as it would go, making sure this carnation was right in her face and my smile to her was as big as my head. She gave me a wink and a big smile back and said ‘thank you,’” Van Midde recalled.
“The next day I was shown a newspaper article showing the Queen from a hotel balcony. The clipping said the Queen waved to the people below while holding onto a single carnation that a ‘mysterious little redhead girl’ had given her.”
“That was my carnation! I'm the ‘mysterious redhead.’ How exciting! I'm sorry if I stole my sister’s glory but I’ve always thought it was a pretty neat experience, one I'm very grateful for,” Van Midde said.
“I gave Tressa one flower and didn’t think she was going to give it to the Queen but she went right under the rope and right up to the Queen,” said Jeri Pearce, Van Midde’s mother.
“You’re not supposed to do that and you could see the security guards coming and I thought ‘oh no, I’m going to be arrested,” Pearce chuckled.
“The Queen put her hand up and the guards stopped and Tressa curtsied. We were very close and we were in a good spot.”
“What’s so interesting about this is that the Queen never holds on to the flowers. She always passes them back to whoever is there to take them but for whatever reason she held onto that flower. She went back to her hotel and waved to the people there. It must have been the same photographer that had seen my daughter do this because he said later on the radio ‘a red haired girl gave the Queen a flower and she’s still holding it from the balcony from where she was waving.’”
“We were really excited. It was really special to our family,” said Pearce, who was visiting relatives in Edmonton at the time.
“We really believe in the Queen. We’re just so lucky to have her. She’s a very special lady, a real lady to look up to,” said Pearce, who had seen the Queen when still a princess on a previous Canadian visit.
“My heart would break if we ever broke away from the Queen. People are so lucky to have a monarchy. In the States they have a president and they change him every four or eight years. We have a prime minister that we change but this is something above that. Our relatives in the States think it’s cool that we have a Queen.”
“There’s too much history that we would lose if we didn’t have the monarchy,” Pearce said.
“Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, as Queen of Canada and Canada’s Head of State, is the personal embodiment of the Canadian Crown. The Crown, being above politics, allows all Canadians to exercise their loyalty to Canada without the encumberment of political dislike. This is something our neighbours to the south do not have,” said Jeri Pearce’s husband Bruce Pearce, a retired Canadian Armed Forces captain.
“The Dominion of Canada is a constitutional monarchy. We should cherish this fact,” Pearce said.
“I was eight when she was here in Sault Ste. Marie in 1959 and I saw her as I lined the Sault Canal among the cubs, scouts, guides and brownies and the like, and she went through the lock on the small vessel from Britannia (the royal yacht),” recalled Phil Miller, a well-known local clergyman and historian.
“I saw her again as she arrived at the bandshell in Bellevue Park. I was about 20 feet away from her at that point. I knew it was an important event because even Cohen's Scrap yard was decked out with bunting and flags,” Miller said.
“I think it’s important that we have the Queen and her successors. The monarchy is a stabilizing force in our government that does not allow for a government to eliminate elections and become a dictatorship…we are part of a Commonwealth of Nations which seeks the common good of all, by independent national means, with an ultimate ruler who seeks the common good and presides at the will of those nations’ populace. One lives in the hope that the sovereign will never be placed in a position to act in our nation's affairs, but the safeguard is always there.”
“70 years is a good start, and may she have health and sureness of mind for whatever years remain in her life span,” Miller said.
“It's quite remarkable that Queen Elizabeth II has been the Queen for almost half the time that Canada itself has been a country,” said Robert Finch, Monarchist League of Canada chairman in an email.
“Canada and the world have changed so much since the Queen's accession to the throne - technologically, politically and culturally. The world is vastly different today than what it was in 1952. Yet, there's the Queen, one of the few constants in a changing world. Politicians have come and gone. Entire countries have disappeared and new ones have taken their place. Trends and fads have changed. We have the Internet instead of black and white television. It is kind of refreshing to be able to look up and see a familiar face in the Queen after all these years.”
“I have often said that the Queen is the world's greatest statesman. She can be quite the diplomat. You don't do a job like hers for so long without meeting such a broad range of individuals. So, she can be a pretty good sounding board for politicians and encourage conversation to help get things done. For instance, her role in the ending of apartheid in South Africa, I think, is often underappreciated. Her mere presence is sometimes all it takes to bring people together to get talking,” Finch said.
Is a British monarch as Head of State not a ‘tough sell’ to those who do not trace their roots to the United Kingdom?
“The monarchy doesn't belong to those Canadians only of British background. It's all of ours. Remember, too, that the UK is just as multicultural as Canada is. It's a shared institution and that's a good thing,” Finch said.
“The monarchy can be a wonderful force for Canadian identity and national unity. Even today. It certainly sets us apart from our republican neighbours to the south. I don't know of any other person who can bring together such a diverse number of Canadians like the Queen or member of the Royal Family can. Just look at the crowds during Royal Tours.”
Indeed.
The media reported the number of visitors to Parliament Hill on Canada Day in 2010 was double the usual number due to the Queen’s presence while on a Royal Visit to Canada.
"The people are made up of all ages, ethnic backgrounds, different politics and various socio-economic backgrounds. The people are so different but they're all there to see the Queen or Royal.”
“That's unity,” Finch said.
As the Queen ages, is the League confident the monarchy and its ties with Canada will go on?
In recent years, there has been a greater spotlight on The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge - William and Kate - as a modern yet stable, glamorous yet friendly, more openly affectionate couple.
The Duchess has been especially visible in the past few months.
She surprised many by playing piano in a televised Christmas Eve 2021 concert with a dazzling smile.
With that, Finch said “I am confident that the monarchy will continue in Canada after the Queen, yes.”
“The challenge is to make sure the monarchy remains relevant to Canadians. The younger Royals are able to resonate more with younger Canadians for sure. So, yes, I think you will continue to see a growing attention paid to William and Kate in the years ahead.”
“They are the future, after all,” Finch said.
On a personal note, I was excited to see the Queen in July 1988, even if it was merely a fleeting glimpse.
On vacation in England with family members, I was having lunch in a cafe on a London street when my family and I suddenly noticed a large crowd of people passing by the doors of the cafe.
The crowd was clearly heading toward an important event.
We left the cafe (but not before paying our bill!), surprised and excited to learn the Queen was scheduled to soon pass by in her limousine, on her way to greet then-Turkish President Kenan Evren.
The plan was for her to greet the president at one of London’s main train stations.
From there, she and the president rode to Buckingham Palace in her open horse drawn carriage for a reception held in his honour.
I quickly stood at a curbside spot with my camera and managed to snap a photo of her limousine passing by.
That was in the days before digital cameras.
Returning to Canada after our family vacation, I had the film developed and was delighted to see I had captured a photographic image of the Queen.
The swiftly moving limousine was blurry, but she was seated - dignified, serene and clearly visible - in the back seat of the vehicle as she was transported to meet her guest that day.
Appropriate, when I think about it.
The limousine, like time itself over the past 70 years, is a blur in that photo of mine.
But Queen Elizabeth II was 'there' - and still is - dignified, serene and clearly visible in times of swift change.
God Save The Queen.