Articles - Miscellaneous

The Visit of her Majesty Queen Elizabeth

My name is Charlotte and I am a member of the 7^th Roundhay Brownies who meet on Monday evenings. This July I was asked, along with 3 friends from my unit, to take part in the Pageant at Harewood House, when Queen Elizabeth came as part of her Golden Jubilee tour of the country.

My Brown Owl asked 4 Brownies from each of the schools represented in our Pack. Emily, Roise and Shannen were chosen as well. We all had to be very smart and make sure our uniforms stayed clean and tidy all day. We had to go for a rehearsal at Harewood on the Wednesday evening. Our stage manager was called Natalie and she was very nice and let us watch most of the other peoples’ rehearsals. We even saw Mel B!!

On the Thursday morning everyone was very excited! Harewood looked very grand with red banners hanging in front of the doorway. We waited for the Queen to arrive and then we had our lunch with the other Guides and Scouts from St Edmund’s. We had to be in our places for 1.30pm so we had a quick practice and then went to our starting place.

We saw the Queen come out and take her place on the dais. She looked beautiful in a pale peach dress and hat. Everyone waved and cheered. Then the music started. There was a silence as we all listened as Baroness Betty Boothroyd spoke and introduced the various people as they all proceeded past the Queen. Then Lesley Garrett sang a song and soon it was our turn to represent Guiding for the whole of West Yorkshire. We felt very proud as we marched out in front of the Queen, Prince Philip and lots and lots of VIPs, not to mention the TV cameras. Everyone said we looked very smart and we were all word perfect as we sang two verses of the National Anthem.

Thursday 11^th July 2002 will be a day that I remember for the rest of my life.

Charlotte Bunce, aged 8, 7^th Roundhay Brownies

29 August, 2002