Item : MI-173 - Queen [Royal visits to British Columbia 1939 and 1951]

Item is a reel of amateur films documenting the royal visits to British Columbia in 1939 and 1951. The first part of the film reel contains approximately five minutes of footage of the visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth to Vancouver in May 1939. It includes views of and from Queen Elizabeth Park, and a band procession leading the royal motorcade from the park. Also included are views of crowds lined up along Georgia Street near Howe and in Stanley Park watching the band procession and royal motorcade, followed by views of the Lions Gate Bridge, steamships on Burrard Inlet and Siwash Rock. The film also includes footage of the royal motorcade on Columbia Street in New Westminster, followed by footage of Stanley Park, Prospect Point, Coal Harbour, Lions Gate Bridge, and Lighthouse Park in West Vancouver, all taken from a boat in Burrard Inlet. The second part of the reel film contains approximately nine minutes of footage of H.R.H. Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) and H.R.H. Prince Philip's October 1951 visit to Victoria, British Columbia. The footage shows the couple's arrival on the H.M.C.S. Crusader and members of the Canadian Scottish Regiment and the Royal Canadian Artillery performing and greeting the couple prior to their meeting with Premier Byron Johnson in front of the Legislative Buildings. The film also includes scenes of a motorcade to the Empress Hotel and the royal couple exiting the hotel with the Premier, footage of the Princess stopping to tour at an unidentified building, additional motorcade and band footage, and scenes of the royal couple departing on the H.M.C.S. Crusader.