Royal visit to family farm fondly recalled

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This article was published 06/06/2022 (1448 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Imagine chatting with the Queen about your summer plans.

It wasn’t a dream for Brian Bailey when the Queen, Prince Philip and their children visited his family’s farm in the summer of 1970.

“It was like having the neighbours come in for a coffee party,” Bailey, 77, said. “It was so neat to know that we had them to ourselves.”

The royals were in Manitoba on a Canadian tour. They’d spent the first part of a Sunday in July in Brandon, but wanted to take a break from the public eye, according to Bailey.

That’s where his family farm — southeast of Carberry — came in handy. The Queen and crew boarded the royal train and rode to the Bailey farm.

She, her family, Bailey’s dad and security rode RCMP horses around the land for two hours. The monarch wanted to see a Manitoban farm — the crops, the cattle — Bailey said.

Then, they came back to the Baileys’ yard for food, conversation and relaxing on lawn chairs.

“(We) chatted and chatted and chatted,” Bailey said.

His mother and the Queen talked about family; Prince Philip talked to Bailey’s brothers about farming, Bailey said.

Prince Charles and Princess Anne, then 21 and 19 years old, respectively, were in attendance.

“It was so nice to see (the Queen) in plain clothes,” Bailey said. “So often, you know, she’s dressed to the nines with a proper hat.”

The Queen took photos on a Nikon. Bailey took pictures on an Olympus Pen.

They ate coffee cake Bailey’s mother prepared for the occasion. It was her third time baking it for the event: she first made it for the Queen’s private secretary in a “dry run,” to ensure the food was safe, Bailey said. Then, she made it the morning of but forgot to add the topping.

The third cake was newly baked in time for the Queen’s arrival.

“We call it the Queen’s cake now,” Bailey said.

The monarch was briefed on the Bailey family before the meet-up. She asked Bailey about his plans for the summer, since he was a schoolteacher.

The day had a lasting effect on Bailey. He recorded last Thursday’s kick off to Platinum Jubilee festivities, which commemorate the Queen’s 70 years on the throne.

Bailey said he got goosebumps while watching.

“We actually met that lady 52 years ago,” he said.

Bailey’s father, T. Roy Bailey, had been crowned Mr. Manitoba Farmer in 1967. The farmer’s connections, plus the farm’s location, made the Bailey family ideal candidates for the Queen’s short stay.

“We were at the right place at the right time,” Bailey said.

T. Roy Bailey had met the man who helped organize the 1970 royal tour through his Mr. Manitoba Farmer win. He and his wife wintered in Florida. When they returned home in April, they received the call about hosting the royal family, Bailey said.

“The locals were a little bit disappointed because they weren’t able to even come close to the farm,” Bailey said, adding his own family needed passes to access their farmhouse — RCMP had blocked the road.

Forty years later, T. Roy Bailey had another meeting with the Queen. Bailey had heard the monarch and Prince Philip would be in Manitoba. He said he emailed the premier with his family’s story and asked if his dad could see them again.

Bailey emailed again after no reply, and received comment from Manitoba’s chief of protocol, he said.

T. Roy Bailey had a front row seat to the Queen unveiling her statue at the Manitoba legislature grounds in 2010.

“As soon as she could get off the stage, she made a beeline to my dad to have a little visit,” Bailey said. “My dad was just so tickled.”

The Royal Family remembered him and his crops, Bailey said.

“I feel like we’re related, almost,” he said of watching the monarch on TV. “You really do feel a kinship with them.”

He keeps an enlarged photo of his family with the royals in his house. It’s a conversation starter, he said.

The former schoolteacher once brought the photos into a Grade 12 creative writing class he was leading. The kids had to write based on the photos without asking questions.

“They wrote some little satirical comments about, ‘Oh, Mr. Bailey thinks he’s king, doesn’t he now, because the Queen has come to his house,’” he said with a laugh.

The Royal Family spent the night in 1970 in their train car, Bailey said. They used a portion of the next day to more formally tour the property.

Bailey’s sister-in-law has kept a serviette and teacup the Queen used, he said.

The Queen is Britain’s longest reigning monarch. The 96-year-old is the first to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com