Highs and lows of the Royal Family

Sep 12 2008 by Alastair Gilmour, The Journal

WHAT would we do without the Royal Family? Certainly from a newspaper point of view, they have provided us with just about every news angle under the sun, from long-awaited weddings to sudden, unexpected deaths, turmoil, in-fighting, pomp and ceremony – just like any other family, in fact.

The Journal has reported enthusiastically on North East royal visits which have included Queen Victoria opening the High Level Bridge in 1849 – when “the bells of St Nicholas sent forth merry peals” – to King George V visiting Sunderland, Diana Princess of Wales in Whitley Bay and Prince Charles playing dominoes at Harton & Westoe Miners Welfare Club in Boldon Lane, South Shields. Accounts of the visits and their accompanying photographs invariably demonstrate the loyalty that the North East affords.

January 23, 1901: “Death of the Queen. The shadow of death has settled over the throne. Queen Victoria is no more. She passed away peacefully at Osborne at half-past six o’clock tonight, amid the prayers and tears of her children.”

On Wednesday, October 10, 1928, a fine photograph is accompanied by the caption: “The Tyne Bridge, built by Dorman Long of Middlesbrough, is opened by King George V. It is a particularly fine example of a compression-arch, suspended-deck construction. It spans 531 feet with the road deck 84 feet above river level.”

On December 11, 1936, King Edward VIII abdicated, causing a constitutional crisis. His desire to marry his mistress Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced American socialite, was opposed by the Government on religious, legal, political and moral grounds. She was perceived to be an unsuitable consort on account of her two failed marriages and an assumption by the establishment that she was driven by a love for money and social position rather than a love for the king. The couple married the following year and remained so until his death 35 years later.

The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on Wednesday, June 4, 1953: “Drenched – but no one cared. Where but in London would that drenched crowd have remained cheerful, ever ready to sing and to cheer some quite trivial incident?

“Where but in Britain would crowds have stayed at all? The weather did its vicious utmost to drive them back to their firesides. It was said it rained for hours at a time. But they stayed not to see the spectacle and the fine uniforms but, as my middle-aged neighbour put it, just to give the Queen a cheer on her day.”

Monday, September 1, 1997: “A nation weeps. The body of Diana, Princess of Wales, arrived home in Britain last night amid unprecedented scenes of national grief.

“Her tragic death in a car accident – as she and her friend, Harrods heir Dodi al-Fayed, were pursued by French paparazzi photographers on motorbikes – stunned the nation, sparked emotional scenes at Buckingham and Kensington Palaces and brought tributes to her from around the world.”