Pages of the past: Queen Elizabeth visits Toronto
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $1.44 a week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $5.77 plus GST every four weeks. After 52 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/10/2021 (1681 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
On Wednesday, Queen Elizabeth II will have been the United Kingdom’s monarch for 63 years, seven months and three days.
That means she’ll pass Queen Victoria as the UK’s longest-serving sovereign.
Those decades on the throne include 22 visits to Canada, seven of which included trips to Toronto.
Through it all, the Toronto Star reported how she weathered the heat and mud, chatting with children, moguls and politicians.
Here are our front pages from the Queen’s visits to Toronto:
October 10, 1951
Toronto can’t get enough of Elizabeth as she visits Toronto for the first time. The 25-year-old princess and her husband, Prince Philip, are the first royal couple to visit Canada by aircraft rather than by ship.
A headline at the top of the front page of the Daily Star screams out “8-MILE THRONG HAILS PRINCESS” and another page story is headlined, “ ‘WHAT A GRAND GIRL, WONDERFUL COUPLE,’ SAY AMPUTEES AT MEMORIAL.”
It isn’t all cheery, however. Yet another front page headline notes she was unnerved by “staring eyes of women, bugle, roaring of guns.”
She also watches the Leafs lose 3-1 to Chicago at Maple Leaf Gardens.
June 29, 1959
The Queen looks wilted in scorching heat as she travels in a ticker-tape parade from the ship Britannia to City Hall. Meanwhile, Prince Philip tells reporters that the design for Toronto’s new City Hall looks like a boomerang.
June 26, 1973
The Queen rides to Queen’s Park in an open carriage, where she’s greeted by 10,000 adoring fans. She tells them she is struck by Canada’s diversity and says the country is united by “the rule of law.”
October 1, 1984
Some 20,000 people crowd the neighbourhood of St. Clair Ave. W. and Dufferin St., shouting “God save the Queen,” “Come back soon” and “Bravo.” Other crowds gather for a glimpse of her on Lake Shore Blvd. W., where the Britannia was moored, and at the Royal Ontario Museum.
June 29, 1997
The Queen gets the top of the front page with the headline “A right royal welcome,” as well as a dignified photo of her waving. That said, she doesn’t have the rock star welcome she garnered in previous years.
Her visit is to the Royal York Hotel, where she dines with Prime Minister Jean Chretien and 900 invitees, including jazz pianist Oscar Peterson.
Earlier in the day, she stops by Stratford and Brantford.
Her story garners far more coverage than that day’s top sports story: the disqualification of heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson for twice chomping onto the ear of opponent Evander Holyfield.
October 10, 2002
The Queen jokes with premier Ernie Eves during the Festival of Ontario at the National Trade Centre. She thrills 14-year-old Kristen Ollies of Milverton when she looks over her stamp collection. “It was exciting and it’s something I will never forget,” Ollies says. “Just the way (the Queen) said, ‘Stamps?’ to me was just splendid.”
July 4, 2010
The Queen prepares to fly to Toronto from Winnipeg after visiting Halifax and Ottawa. Her itinerary in Toronto includes visiting the Queen’s Plate, Queen’s Park and a film studio.