Jenny Lynch worked for more than 30 years in magazines including 18 years at the NZ Woman’s Weekly, seven as the editor.
COMMENT: It was December, 1953 and New Zealand was in the grip of patriotic fever. Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, was making her first visit to this country and we were desperate to demonstrate our love and loyalty. Gardens sported red, white and blue flowers and ecstatic crowds got ready to cheer themselves hoarse.
As one of more than 16,000 flag-waving children and their teachers who attended the Christmas Eve youth rally in the Auckland Domain, I was thrilled to glimpse the royals as they drove by in an open-topped Land Rover.
Organisers went to great lengths to ensure Her Majesty’s younger subjects would do the country proud. Nothing was left to chance. Routes to water taps were marked out and first aid officers stood by to attend to those who succumbed to the heat and excitement. Children finding it hard to ‘hold on’ were guided to the toilets, hidden behind palm fronds. Royalty should never set eyes on anything as base as a public lavatory. A few youngsters were disappointed. They had expected the fairy Queen to be wearing a glittering crown.
But New Zealand’s action-packed five week visit — the Queen called in at 46 centres and attended 110 functions — was just one part of her six month 1953-54 inaugural Commonwealth tour. So great were the demands on her during this energy-sapping marathon that she lost weight and her clothes had to be altered.
Of course, all the while she had to keep delivering her famous smile. Never mind the pompous officials with their long-winded speeches. Never mind the possibly aching jaw and tired feet. We expected her to love every moment. She had to be "radiant." A glum Queen would never do. (She’s not smiling – how dreadful, she doesn’t like us!)
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Maintaining that smile during the formal luncheons and dinners New Zealand arranged might have been particularly challenging.The Queen had simple food tastes. She was keenly aware of the family propensity, as demonstrated by the Queen Mother, to pack on the pounds. Pasta and oily food of any sort were out. And she rarely ate potatoes. I suspect she may have been overwhelmed by our good old Kiwi fare. One heavy luncheon of fried lemon sole, roast lamb, York ham and roast turkey must have made her eyes water.
While formality ruled during that first visit, by the second in 1963 the Queen seemed to have relaxed a little. NZ Woman’s Weekly editor Jean Wishart wrote about the charming way she tossed her head as she talked and how readily her eyes crinkled with laughter. Undoubtedly observations like these would have been enthusiastically received.
New Zealand women were besotted with the Queen. At a time when many were confined to traditional homemaking roles (but perhaps yearned for something more) the Queen was a superstar – the ultimate career woman.
As leader of the Commonwealth she was an ambassador cementing ties with a far flung family of nations. Prime Ministers bowed to her. As did other movers and shakers. On a personal level, and irrespective of domestic help, she was a working mother.
Little wonder we wanted to find out everything we could about this remarkable woman.The magazine obliged by pumping out stories on such topics as the Queen’s rules for good health (she courted controversy by favouring homeopathy to treat minor ills), her thrifty habits (she went around Buckingham Palace turning off lights to save electricity), even the contents of her handbags.
But press and public scrutiny wasn’t always favourable. Queen Elizabeth learned early on that deference could not be taken for granted. During that first tour she got flak for leaving her children, Charles and Anne at home. Three years later her speeches came under fire. British historian John Grigg said she talked like a priggish schoolgirl.
Then there was the question of her wardrobe. The Weekly might have applauded the way the Queen dressed – the magazine went into raptures over the "breathtaking brilliance" of a peacock blue raw silk outfit she wore in 1963 – but others didn’t.
Fashion gurus took her male designers to task for putting her into stuffy matronly gear. She listened. During the following visit she startled royal watchers by wearing slacks and head scarf to a pageant at Ship Cove. By her 1986 New Zealand tour it was clear that fussy formal ensembles and mumsy hats had gone, although the latter still featured off-the-face styles. People who made the effort to see her should be rewarded with a good look, the Queen said. It was also why she favoured bright colours on all but the most sombre occasions.
However, by the mid-80s fashion was the least of her concerns. Members of the younger generation were attracting media attention of the most damning kind.The general theme? Marriage Woes: Royals Behaving Badly. No caring mother could fail to have been distressed by the marriage breakdowns of three children. But ordinary mothers did not have to watch the sometimes scandalous events involving the warring parties reported in print.
How it must have wounded the Queen to see herself described as head of the world’s most dysfunctional family. However, through the various dramas she soldiered on — stoic, dignified, the glue holding everything together. Only once in her long reign did she make a serious error. Her seemingly tardy response to the tragic death of Princess Diana put the monarchy under pressure.
The Queen’s 10th and last visit to New Zealand took place in 2002 as part of her Golden Jubilee commemorations. But the crowds that turned out to see her were smaller than before. For the glory days of monarchy had passed. We no longer blindly revered royalty. Some people were openly anti-royal. During the 1986 tour two female protesters threw raw eggs at the Queen and a male bared his buttocks.
There was poignancy in the Queen’s later years. On television we saw an increasingly frail monarch continuing to carry out official engagements while still contending with family troubles.– a son in disgrace over a sex scandal, a disgruntled grandson decamping to the United States.
I vividly remember that shining Christmas Eve in 1953 and my glimpse of the Queen who captivated a nation. But I will not forget the tragedy that followed. That night a train crashed at Tangiwai. One Hundred and fifty people lost their lives. The country went into shock. We felt for our young sovereign. And she showed she felt for us. Her Christmas Day broadcast from Auckland ended with a message of sympathy. Later Prince Philip attended the funeral of some of the victims in Wellington.
Three out of every four New Zealanders turned out to see her during that bitter-sweet tour. Nobody could have imagined the appalling act of discourtesy with egg throwing she would encounter in 1986. Nor the personal difficulties she would experience.
Yet Queen Elizabeth continued to present an unruffled face to the world —an image of stability and continuity. She had extraordinary resolve. She never deviated in her devotion to duty. We respected and admired her. And we never stopped loving that wonderful smile.
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