On her first visit to the Islands, she had to ask for a ‘garland.’ (February 1, 1963)
“There were no flowers, hula girls or Hawaiian music waiting for the royal couple during a 1 hour and 7 minute visit. It had been thought the Queen and the Prince would remain in their chartered 707 jetliner during refueling.”
“The Honolulu stopover was in keeping with the royal flight that has been delayed and diverted because of bad weather. The British monarch originally was to fly to Vancouver, B.C., from London. Snow forced the plane to land at Edmonton, Alta.”
“The Queen got halfway across the Pacific last night to Hawaii but had to turn around because of heavy winds in Honolulu. Gusts were registered at 60 mph at Honolulu International Airport.”
“When the royal pair finally made it today, the plane had to wait 10 minutes while their arrival spot was vacated by a loading commercial jetliner. Then there was another delay until Burns showed up. He had been Informed the Queen and Prince were due 30 minutes after they actually arrived. Smiling but tired, the Queen waved to a crowd of 400 on arrival.”
Elizabeth, however, “left the plane with her husband, chatted with Gov. John A. Burns and looked at Honolulu’s new airport terminal. As she reboarded the royal aircraft, she remarked that she’d like to have a lei.”
“The American security chief for British Overseas Airways Corporation John Buckley of New York, dashed 100 yards to a florist shop in the terminal, picked up a red carnation lei for the Queen and a pink carnation garland for the Prince. They were presented to the couple in the plane. A box of orchids also was taken aboard.” (Hawaii Times, Feb 2, 1963)
She came back a month later, on a refueling stop on her way back from Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand and Australia. 4,500 people were waiting to see her.
On this return, “Conch Shells blew”, “An eight-man honor guard from Kamehameha ROTC” greeted her and “Hawaii gave a radiant Queen Elizabeth of England a Royal Hawaiian welcome” – including “Governor Burns greeted Britain’s reigning monarch at planeside with a four-strand, golden-orange ilima lei.”
“Governor Burns presented Elizabeth with the Hawaiian Flag boxed in a koa chest.” ““Noting the Union Jack which is a part of the Hawaii state flag, Burns termed it a token of our ‘love and respect for the British people of whom you are the reigning monarch.’” (Advertiser, March 28, 1963)
On their next Island visit (March 3, 1970), “It was the voices of young Hawaii that enchanted three members of Britain’s royal family when they stopped for an hour at Honolulu International Airport”. They “slowed their pace when they heard 45 members of the Kamehameha Girls Concert Glee Club singing an old Hawaiian song, ‘Waialae.’”(Adv, Mar 4, 1970)
Then, in 1975, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip came to the Islands for a 2-day visit, “they were en route to Japan for a state visit after a Commonwealth meeting in Jamaica.” “This was the first time the British monarch ever has stayed overnight in Hawaii.”
“Elizabeth and Philip originally had planned to rest on Guam but changed plans hastily after Guam became the site for housing thousands of South Vietnamese refugees.” (SB, May 1, 1975)
They dined at Washington Place, “At the Queen’s request, the dinner guest list was limited to 24. …The songs of Queen Liliuokalani, Hawaii’s last monarch who lived in Washington Place, were featured in the entertainment provided by Kawai Cockett and his Lei Kukui group and Noelani Mahoe’s Leo Nahinahi group.” (SB, May 2, 1975)
“British Vice Consul John Houlton said the royal couple spent much of their vacation time relaxing in their suite at the Kahala Hilton.
“England’s Queen Mother Elizabeth came to Hawaii in 1966 and won admirers around the world as she wore a pikake lei and danced the hula with Duke Kahanamoku. Queen Elizabeth II came to Hawaii on Lei Day and accepted a bouquet of flowers because, she explained the British Consul, a lei would be clumsy for the queen as she walked the receiving line” (Adv, May 2, 1975)
Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was born on April 21, 1926, the first child of Albert, Duke of York, second son of George V, and his duchess, the former Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. She was educated at home; despite not attending school, Elizabeth proved adept at languages and made a detailed study of constitutional history.
In 1939, the 13-year-old princess accompanied the King and Queen to the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth. Together with her sister Margaret, she was escorted by one of the cadets, her third cousin, Prince Philip of Greece.
She kept his picture in her room and they exchanged letters. By 1944, when she was 18, Elizabeth was clearly in love with him. On November 20, 1947 the couple married in Westminster Abbey. Their first child, Charles, was born in 1948, followed by a sister, Anne, who arrived in 1950.
But her father King, having suffered considerable stress during the war years, was terminally ill with lung cancer, brought about by a lifetime of heavy smoking.
Elizabeth heard of the death of the King while staying at a game lodge in Kenya and the new Queen immediately returned to London. Her Coronation in June 1953 was televised, despite the opposition of Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
World War Two had served to hasten the end of the British Empire, and by the time the new Queen set off on a lengthy tour of the Commonwealth in November 1953, many former British possessions, including India, had gained independence.
Throughout the 1950s, more countries hauled down the union flag and the former colonies and dominions now came together as a voluntary family of nations.
Encouraged by her husband, notoriously impatient with the court’s stuffiness, the Queen began to adapt to the new order. The practice of receiving debutantes at court was abolished and the term “the Monarchy” was gradually replaced by “the Royal Family”.
On September 9, 2015 she became the longest reigning monarch in British history, surpassing the reign of her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria. In typical style she refused to make any fuss saying the title was “not one to which I have ever aspired”. Less than a year later, in April 2016, she celebrated her 90th birthday.
On the occasion of her Silver Jubilee, she recalled the pledge she had made on a visit to South Africa 30 years before. “When I was 21, I pledged my life to the service of our people and I asked for God’s help to make good that vow. Although that vow was made in my salad days, when I was green in judgement, I do not regret, or retract, one word of it.”
Officially known as ‘Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of her other realms and territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith’ served as queen from February 6, 1952 until to her death on September 8, 2022. (BBC)
