She was touring the second she ascended to the throne, and for a lot of the subsequent seven many years, Queen Elizabeth II criss-crossed the world.
Newly married and nonetheless only a princess, Britain’s future monarch was in Kenya with husband Prince Philip in February 1952 when she discovered of her father’s loss of life and her new regal standing.
Throughout her reign she would go to greater than 120 nations, witnessing first-hand the revolutions in world journey that shrank the world as her personal affect over it diminished.
The Queen lived by means of the appearance of the Jet Age, flew supersonic on the Concorde, noticed regimes change, nations type and dissolve, the tip of the British Empire and the rise of globalization.
Listed here are a few of the most memorable journey moments from her 70 years as monarch.
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Lower than six months after she was topped at Westminster Abbey in London, Queen Elizabeth set off on her travels once more. Her debut official state journey was an epic six-month tour of the Commonwealth — the alliance of countries which have been as soon as British colonies. Touring by air, sea and land she visited a number of nations, accompanied by her husband, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. First cease was the North Atlantic island of Bermuda, a British territory she would go to an additional 4 instances throughout her reign.
The journey would go on to incorporate stops in Jamaica, Tonga, New Zealand, Australia, Cocos Islands, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Aden (now a part of Yemen), Uganda, Malta and Gibraltar. -
At Queen Elizabeth’s coronation in June 1953, Queen Salote Tupou III of the Polynesian kingdom of Tonga gained over the British public when she sat, rain-soaked, in her open carriage. Additionally they took an curiosity when Elizabeth returned the go to later within the 12 months. The 2 queens loved an open-air feast, watched Tongan dancers and admired a tortoise that legend mentioned was offered by explorer Captain James Prepare dinner to the King of Tonga in 1777.
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The Queen voyaged to New Zealand through the Antipodean summer season of 1953-4. Over the course of the journey, it’s estimated that three out of each 4 New Zealanders acquired a glimpse of her. In preparation for the Queen’s go to, some New Zealand sheep have been dyed within the UK flag colours of purple, white and blue. The Queen returned to the nation 9 instances over time, together with in 2002 as she marked half a century on the throne.
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A go to to Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, coincided with the Queen’s twenty eighth birthday. She visited town of Colombo the place crowds joined collectively to sing her “Completely satisfied Birthday.” She additionally visited the central metropolis of Kandy, the place she watched a procession that includes a reported 140 elephants and met native chiefs.
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The Queen had visited France as a younger princess, however her first state go to as monarch was a glamorous affair. She attended the Palais Garnier opera home in Paris, visited the Palace of Versailles, and dined on the Louvre with then-President Rene Coty. The Queen additionally laid a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on the Arc de Triomphe and visited the Scottish Church of Paris.
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Having met President Harry S. Truman in Washington in 1951 throughout a go to earlier than ascending to the throne, Elizabeth was no stranger to America when she arrived on her first journey as Queen. Her 1957 go to marked the 350th anniversary of the primary everlasting British settlement on the continent, in Jamestown. The monarch attended a university soccer recreation on the former Byrd Stadium in Maryland the place she watched the house workforce lose to North Carolina. She met with President Dwight D. Eisenhower within the White Home and later traveled to New York, the place she and Prince Philip drove by means of the streets and admired panoramic views of town from the Empire State Constructing.
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The Queen and Prince Philip visited Pakistan in 1961, arriving within the port metropolis of Karachi after finishing a go to to India as a part of a wider tour of South Asia. She drove by means of the streets of Karachi in an open-top automobile, earlier than occurring to go to Lahore, the place a torchlight army tattoo befell in her honor and Prince Philip performed in a recreation of polo.
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In Nepal, the Queen inspected troops in Kathmandu and met Gurkha ex-servicemen in Pokhara. The monarch rode on an elephant and visited the Hanuman Dhoka Palace advanced in Kathmandu. She took half within the relatively grim spectacle of a tiger hunt though didn’t shoot any animals herself. She as a substitute recorded the expertise on cine digital camera – a recording gadget that she typically carried together with her on her earlier international journeys.
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The Queen visited pre-revolution Iran on the finish of her 1961 South Asian tour.
Hosted by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, she toured historical monuments together with the ruins of Persepolis, as soon as a capital of the Achaemenid Empire, later declared a World Heritage Web site. She additionally noticed Sheikh Lotfollah mosque in Esfahan and admired collections of the Archaeological Museum of Iran. -
In 1961, Elizabeth grew to become the primary British monarch to go to the Vatican. Dressed all in black, the Queen had an viewers with Pope John XXIII, additionally attended by Prince Philip. She returned to the Vatican three extra instances throughout her reign, assembly Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis.
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Bombing incidents within the capital Accra left officers anxious concerning the security of the Queen’s go to to Ghana however, after deliberation, UK Prime Minister Harold Macmillan confirmed it will go forward. Through the journey, the Queen famously shared a dance with Ghana’s then-president, Kwame Nkrumah. On the peak of Chilly Warfare uncertainty, this seemingly innocuous second was seen as important in making certain Ghana remained affiliated to Britain and never the USSR.
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The Queen’s go to to West Germany and West Berlin was seen as a symbolic gesture of goodwill within the post-World Warfare II panorama. It was the primary royal journey to German territory for greater than 50 years and images akin to one of many Queen and Prince Philip in a automobile driving previous the Brandenburg Gate had symbolic resonance.
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Queen Elizabeth grew to become the primary reigning British monarch to go to South America when she landed in Brazil in late 1968. Through the journey, the Queen wore a hanging jewellery set manufactured from Brazilian aquamarine, gifted to her in 1953 by the Brazilian president and added to over time. The monarch additionally attended a soccer match between Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, and offered the winner’s trophy to Brazilian footballer Pele.
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On the primary of two journeys to Turkey — the second befell in 2008 — the Queen visited the Gallipoli peninsula to recollect the Allied troopers who died there throughout World Warfare I. The monarch additionally explored the ruins of the traditional Greek empire metropolis of Ephesus. A media spotlight of the go to got here when she was photographed leaping ashore from a barge, after disembarking from her ship, the Royal Yacht Britannia.
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Accompanied by Prince Philip and daughter Princess Anne, the Queen was greeted on arrival in Bangkok by a carpet of flower petals. The monarch was given a golden key to town of Bangkok, attended a state banquet and visited Bang Pa-In Palace, the Thai royal household’s summer season residence, north of the capital.
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The Queen’s go to to Yugoslavia was her first journey to a communist nation. The Central European nation not exists — the areas that the Queen visited are actually a part of Croatia. Throughout her journey, she met Yugoslav political chief Josip Broz Tito and traveled on his well-known Blue Practice.
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The Queen and Prince Philip visited the Pacific island archipelago of Vanuatu, then generally known as the New Hebrides, in 1974.
It’s mentioned the royal couple’s go to to Vanuatu could have strengthened the idea amongst some locals on Tanna island that the Duke of Edinburgh was a divine being. -
On her first of two visits to Mexico, the Queen toured historical websites — together with the pyramids of Uxmal, now a UNESCO World Heritage Web site. The monarch additionally obtained native crafts, met faculty kids and attended a banquet. Whereas she was pushed by means of Mexico Metropolis, the Queen was showered in confetti.
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In 1979, the Queen grew to become the primary feminine head of state to go to Saudi Arabia, on a tour of Gulf States. At Riyadh Airport, she was met by King Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, pictured. The outfits she wore on the journey have been rigorously designed in accordance with Saudi Arabia’s conservative costume code for ladies.
The Queen arrived on a British Airways supersonic Concorde plane and through the go to attended camel races and toured the Nationwide Museum. -
The Queen visited Tuvalu, a gaggle of 9 islands within the South Pacific, in 1982.
Upon arrival, the Queen and Prince Philip have been carried in a flower-filled canoe from sea to shore. Thirty years later, in 2012, Prince William visited Tuvalu together with his spouse, the Duchess of Cambridge, who drank a coconut from a tree planted by Queen Elizabeth on this 1982 go to. -
On a star-studded journey to the US, the Queen toured the twentieth Century-Fox studios in Hollywood with then-First Woman Nancy Reagan and met Frank Sinatra, who she’d beforehand met within the Nineteen Fifties, at a celebration given in her honor.
The Queen and Prince Philip additionally visited Yosemite Nationwide Park in California, pictured. -
The Queen returned to Kenya in 1983 for a state go to. When she was there 31 years beforehand, she’d discovered that her father had handed away and he or she had change into Britain’s reigning monarch.
In 1983, the Queen and Prince Philip revisited the Treetops lodge, pictured, the place they have been staying on the time she was instructed the information. -
The Queen’s journey to China was the primary — and, to date, solely — state go to by a British monarch to China. With Prince Philip by her aspect, the Queen visited the Nice Wall of China, pictured, in addition to the Forbidden Metropolis in Beijing.
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In 1994, in one other royal first, the Queen visited Russia. Over the three-day journey, the Queen met Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov, pictured right here with the monarch outdoors St Basil’s Cathedral, in addition to Russian President Boris Yeltsin. The Queen additionally attended the Bolshoi Ballet.
In her conventional Christmas Day speech broadcast later that 12 months, the Queen mirrored on how instances had modified, noting she “by no means thought it will be doable in [her] lifetime” to attend a service in Moscow’s well-known cathedral. -
In 1994, after apartheid ended, South Africa rejoined the Commonwealth as a republic. The next 12 months, the Queen traveled there, in a go to designed to resume ties between the 2 nations. The Queen met with President Nelson Mandela, pictured, and offered him with the Order of Benefit.
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The Queen visited India for the third time in 1997, her first public engagement since Princess Diana’s funeral simply weeks earlier than. The journey marked 50 years since India’s independence from Britain.
Most memorably, the monarch visited the location of the Amritsar bloodbath, also called the Jallianwala Bagh bloodbath, of April 13, 1919. She additionally expressed remorse at a state banquet in New Delhi for the “distressing” episode through which British troopers gunned down lots of of unarmed civilians. The gesture was seen by some as insufficient.
“The Queen is doing every thing she will to make India like her. However to date it doesn’t appear to be working,” wrote the UK’s Unbiased newspaper on the time. -
The Queen visited Canada many instances. In 2002, her journey to the North American nation coincided together with her Golden Jubilee festivities, celebrating 50 years of her reign. Through the journey, the Queen attended an ice hockey recreation between the Vancouver Canucks and the San Jose Sharks, and dropped the ceremonial puck.
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The Queen visited Australia 16 instances as Head of State. In 2006, she traveled to Melbourne to open the Commonwealth Video games. She was greeted by a welcoming occasion in Canberra, visited the Sydney Opera Home, attended a Commonwealth Day service in St. Andrew’s Cathedral and toured Admiralty Home, the Sydney residence of the Governor-Common of Australia.
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The Queen’s journey to Dublin was the primary time a British monarch had set foot within the Irish Republic since its 1922 independence. At Dublin Citadel the Queen delivered a well-received speech on the historical past of Anglo-Irish relations. In County Tipperary, she additionally toured the medieval Rock of Cashel, pictured, as soon as a seat of energy for Eire’s historical kings.
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From 1949 to 1951, earlier than she was Queen, Elizabeth and Prince Philip lived in Malta. In 2015, the monarch paid her final go to to the island, touring the Grand Harbour in a Maltese fishing boat and waving to members of the British Royal Navy.
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Within the later years of her reign, the Queen reduce on international journey, passing on the mantle to the youthful royals. In newer years, royal excursions have additionally been checked out with extra skeptical eyes, as Britain reckons with its colonial previous.
Whereas she did not journey overseas within the later years of her reign, the Queen continued to trip within the UK. Most notably, the Queen’s ties with Scotland remained robust all through her reign and her residence there, Balmoral Citadel, was a favourite refuge. It was at Balmoral that the Queen died on September 8, 2022.
Correction: An earlier model of this story incorrectly acknowledged the size of time between British royal visits to Eire.