The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh continued their six-month Commonwealth Tour in Malta on this day in 1954, following Tours around the United Kingdom after the Queen’s Coronation. The stops in Bermuda, Jamaica, Panama, Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand, Australia, Ceylon, Aden, Uganda, and Malta were followed by a stop in Gibraltar ahead of the return to the United Kingdom.
Lady Pamela Mountbatten recalled:
“We headed back to England via Aden, Uganda, Malta, and Gibraltar. Aden was weirdly beautiful—towering dark-gray volcanic rocks splitting the horizon with their peaks as we came into the harbor early one morning.
This was the first place in which the queen had been greeted by groups of black-robed women emitting their shrill, trilling cry of welcome. On the last night aboard Gothic we dined quietly by ourselves and after supper the queen knighted the captain.”
“When we reached Malta, Britannia steamed up between the lines of her escorting ships, accompanied above by noisy helicopters. We reduced speed and just outside the Grand Harbour breakwater we were met by my father’s big barge. As it heaved up and down in rough water, my mother leapt on board in her usual nimble style. Talking had to wait as we were instantly caught up in the whirl of a flypast of jets.
Then all the ships in harbor, the naval shore establishments, and the saluting batteries fired a royal salute and, passing the breakwater, Britannia was escorted to her berth by landing craft. The noise was deafening—cheering from the packed crowds, the ringing of church bells, the klaxon of ships’ sirens, all drowned out by the noise of firecrackers, which even by Maltese standards were phenomenal and fearsome”
The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh were reunited with Prince Charles and Princess Anne, who had sailed to Malta on the new Royal Yacht Britannia, staying with Earl and Countess Mountbatten ahead of their parents arrival.
“At our Sunday church service, Conolly read the prayer for the royal family, “We humbly beseech Thee to bless our gracious Queen, Elizabeth the Queen Mother, Philip Duke of Edinburgh, Charles Duke of Cornwall and all the Royal Family.”
When he came to the end Princess Anne’s furious small voice was heard, “He hasn’t prayed for me, Mummy,” thereby nearly bringing the service to an end as we all laughed so much.”
“I felt even happier for her the next day as she and Prince Philip were able to snatch a small opportunity to act as normal parents and take the children for a drive around the island in their small car.”
The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh (wearing Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Tiara) were joined by Lady Pamela (in her Pearl and Diamond Tiara) as they attended the Governor’s Ball in Valetta.
“The Maltese nobility were in their element at the state ball, where they danced their famous maltija in powdered wigs and eighteenth-century costumes. It was so windy that the queen and I were nearly blown off the flight deck of the aircraft carrier Eagle, and the archbishop got so cold during the final brilliant firework display that my mother had to wrap her striped silk stole around him.”
The Queen (wearing the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara and Greville Ruby Necklace) also attended a Banquet hosted by the Prime Minster of Malta, Dr Borg Olivier, at the Auberge D’Aragon.
The Queen and Duke had spent several years in Malta between 1949 and 1951, while the Duke was stationed there with the Royal Navy.
Queen in Bermuda
Queen in Jamaica
Queen in Panama
Queen in Fiji
