Kathryn White, Mayor White and the queen on City Hall Plaza. Photo from Boston City Archive.
On July 11, 1976, Queen Elizabeth visited Boston as part of the Bicentennial celebrations that year. Mayor White greeted her outside City Hall, where she reviewed some of her troops:
Then White gave her a tour of City Hall, as Prince Philip and Kitty Dukakis trailed behind:
Cake was served:
The queen and the prince also visited the Old State House, once the seat of the royal government in the Massachusetts colony, and still adorned with the royal symbols of a lion and a unicorn. They waved to well wishers and the curious from the balcony from which the Declaration of Independence is read every July 4th:
She gave a speech at the Old State House, in which she allowed that Paul Revere, Sam Adams and others would have been "extremely surprised" to see a monarch standing there.
But perhaps they would also have been pleased. Pleased to know that, eventually, we came together again as free peoples and friends and defended together the very ideals for which the American Revolution was fought.
She added:
It was here, in Boston, where it all began... but we came together again, as free peoples and friends, to defend together the very ideals for which the American Revolution was fought.
While here, she also met Roxbury civic leader Melnea Cass:
Melnea Cass, Boston leader, luminary, and "First Lady of Roxbury," was one of a few Bostonians who received invitation to meet Queen Elizabeth during her 1976 visit to Boston. Melnea Cass's meeting of Queen Elizabeth was noted in the Roxbury Goldenaire's newsletter...1/2 pic.twitter.com/IZ5Avz8Y2s
— Northeastern Archives and Special Collections (@NU_Archives) September 8, 2022
Queen and Duke touring the North End (photo by Don Topaz):
The queen gave us a bird:
"Presented to @BostonianSoc by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness the Prince Phillip Duke of Edinburgh on July 11, 1976." pic.twitter.com/H5VI5sbyKQ
— Bostonian Society (@BostonianSoc) July 13, 2017
Photos from the Boston City Archives and the UK Consulate in Boston.
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Comments
Best appearance
By Terrapin
Thu, 09/08/2022 - 2:37pm
I thought her best appearance was in The Naked Gun. Quite the first pitch!
Not to mention when she passed the hot dogs
By roadman
Thu, 09/08/2022 - 4:13pm
and drinks down the line. And then passed the money back to the vendor.
Frank Quote
By Terrapin
Thu, 09/08/2022 - 5:52pm
"For no matter how silly the idea of having a queen might be to us, as Americans we must be gracious and considerate hosts."
Hey - it's ENRICO PALAZZO!
By Finn
Thu, 09/08/2022 - 6:04pm
Hey - it's ENRICO PALAZZO!
America has plenty of
By Kinopio
Thu, 09/08/2022 - 2:48pm
America has plenty of problems but at least we don’t embarrass ourselves by still having royalty in 2022.
Americans and Royalty
By anon
Thu, 09/08/2022 - 3:08pm
America may not have royalty, but it certainly shows a fascination with it, which I never understood. I'm sorry the old girl is dead, and she was certainly an icon of the 20th Century and beyond, but I never understood the obsession with royalty that Americans, especially American women, seem to have. the whole "princess" thing, for example. What's up with that? It seems to follow American women right through and into their weddings. There seem to be a whole industry around it.
What's old is new
By BostonDog
Thu, 09/08/2022 - 3:16pm
We just have some politicians who think they are monarchs with limitless authority.
Million Dollar Question...
By Milwaukee Mike
Thu, 09/08/2022 - 4:32pm
In that picture of Elizabeth waving from the open top of a limo with Dukakis, what upset you more: the fact that it it shows a monarch or the fact that she happened to be riding... in a car? I imagine that viewing it caused you no small about of psychic trauma (or maybe you just looked away from that part and scrolled past it furiously).
I don't get it
By scollaysq
Thu, 09/08/2022 - 5:39pm
Should she have been on a bike? Explain please
Dukakis...
By Friartuck
Thu, 09/08/2022 - 6:56pm
In a tank... Google it, if you seriously don't know
I think
By perruptor
Thu, 09/08/2022 - 10:38pm
I think it's a dig at kinopio's supposed hatred of cars.
DING-DING-DING!
By Milwaukee Mike
Thu, 09/08/2022 - 11:12pm
DING-DING-DING!
We have a winner, though I think it's safe to move beyond "supposed." Kinopio has as much love for cars as North Korea does for western capitalism--fitting because the rhetoric employed by both is eerily similar.
Rent free in your head
By SwirlyGrrl
Fri, 09/09/2022 - 6:23pm
You are the best landlord evah!
That reminds me of how much …
By Lee
Thu, 09/08/2022 - 11:37pm
… Mike Dukakis supported public transportation.
Anyhow much Charlieboy Baker does not.
wearing sandals to meet the Queen!
By scollaysq
Thu, 09/08/2022 - 3:01pm
During the visit by the Queen, a friend of mine was invited to the Old North Church by Reverend Golledge for the service. My friend wore sandals. I remember being so offended that he would disrespect the Queen with that footwear (my grandparents were British subjects), I gave him grief for weeks.
To this day we still laugh about it.
Somebody forgot to tell you
By SwirlyGrrl
Fri, 09/09/2022 - 6:24pm
You were in the US, not Great Britain.
ahh, swirly, we were young
By scollaysq
Fri, 09/09/2022 - 10:50pm
We knew nothing of protocols. We were innocents.That's why we laugh about it now.
I remember as a 10 year old
By Finn
Thu, 09/08/2022 - 3:26pm
I remember as a 10 year old boy seeing the Royal Yacht Britannia sailing past Castle Island while being saluted by the USS Constitution - later remember seeing her address the crowd in front of the Old State House. Nice to be part of history.
Magoo sez
By MisterMagooForYoo
Thu, 09/08/2022 - 4:26pm
Magoo has heard rumors that the royal family are not humans but are instead lizard people shapeshifters. Magoo is Magoo’s self a lizard person and is gladdened to hear that Magoo may not be alone in Magoo’s reptilian lonesome, seeing as others of Magoo’s kind might also inhabit Earth, or as it is known to Magoo’s kind, etheesnopeskaboodlebingbing. Magoo.
Does this mean...
By Brian Riccio
Thu, 09/08/2022 - 5:57pm
The rest of them have to get jobs now?
I think my Dad sang for the Queen
By MassMouse
Thu, 09/08/2022 - 7:31pm
He was part of Handel and Haydn’s chorus, and I am pretty sure they did something for her on the common. I was six, so memories are a tad hazy.
Imagine
By Irma la Douce
Thu, 09/08/2022 - 8:35pm
Imagine flying across the Atlantic to visit Boston and your itinerary includes a tour of City Hall.
Worth noting: Other photos of her speech show that the platform is right at the site of the Boston Massacre.
The British soldiers were framed
By Don't Panic
Fri, 09/09/2022 - 1:15am
and John Adams got most of them off with no punishment including the commander of the troops. The two troopers who were punished were convicted of manslaughter and branded on their thumbs.
THE QUEEN IS DEAD: GOD SAVE THE KING!
King Charles...
By Friartuck
Thu, 09/08/2022 - 8:49pm
I. was executed
II. was exiled under Camilla (err, Cromwell) and had no heirs but several illegitimate children
III. No wonder he kept the name
Number 2
By SamWack
Fri, 09/09/2022 - 5:25pm
You forgot to mention that II was restored to the throne, and took horrible revenge on those who had sentenced his father to death. Ten of them were hanged, drawn, and quartered - disemboweled alive. He did not neglect Cromwell, even though he was dead; his corpse was dug up and hanged in chains at Tyburn (where they do such things), and his head was displayed on a pole outside the Palace of Westminster (the Houses of Parliament) for twenty years.
Melania probably reads accounts of this to Donald at bedtime to help him sleep.
Kevin White, best mayor ever
By deselby
Sat, 09/10/2022 - 5:46pm
He made modern Boston
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