This silent, color film was made by Pathe for the home market; a sound version was shown in theaters. The film shows Queen Elizabeth II’s triumphal return to England and Buckingham Palace after her global tour in 1953-54. It shows the end of the longest tour Her Majesty took during her reign, visiting 13 countries in the Commonwealth, including the West Indies, Australia, Australasia, Asia, and Africa. During the journey, the Royal Family covered more than 40,000 miles by land, air and sea.
Opening titles: Associated British-Pathe Ltd present Welcome the Queen! (:10). Title: London River to Buckingham Palace (:16). A man with binoculars watches as Her Majesty’s Yacht HMY Brittania approaches (:21). Royal Yacht Brittania comes towards port, people wave (:54). Military jet flyover (1:18). HMY Brittania comes ever so close to port (1:22). Cannons are fired in the Royal Family’s honor (1:29). British military personnel including Royal Navy sailors raise their hands and hats in honor of the ship and its esteemed passengers (1:43). A procession (1:53). A man in formal British military attire enters a whaler type boat. Sailors get their oars ready and start to row (2:11). London’s Tower Bridge opens (2:38). Queen Elizabeth is escorted towards a gate (2:51). HMY Brittania enters port, people await, the ship passes through Tower Bridge (3:03). The Queen and her consort get onto the ship’s tender, or Royal Barge, which was used to ferry the Royal Family to and from the Royal Yacht (3:57). The smaller vessel motors away (4:34). From the Queen exits onto a walkway towards the Britannia (4:45). The Queen is back on the Royal Barge, joined by her husband Prince Philip. The vessel leaves the side of the HMY Britannia (5:25). Boats on the Thames River (6:30). Queen Elizabeth, on the smaller vessel, passes by a huge crowd looking to catch a glimpse of her (6:49). The Royal Barge is stopping at a dock (7:07) Big Ben (7:23). Queen Elizabeth is back on land (7:26). Little children are excited to see the Queen and her children (7:57). Cannons are fired near London Bridge (8:31). A parade for the Queen as she sits in a horse drawn carriage and passes by people on the sides of the street (8:38). A huge crowd watches as the Queen goes by (9:20). The Queen and her entourage make their way down London streets towards Buckingham Palace (10:00). A massive crowd cheers on the Queen (10:34). The Queen and her people enter the gates Buckingham Palace (11:15). Buckingham Palace (11:44). People rush the closed gates of Buckingham Palace (11:49). The Queen comes onto a balcony and waves at the people (12:24). The crowd cheers (12:42). Queen Elizabeth waves as does her husband Prince Philip and children Prince William and Prince Andrew (12:52). A massive crowd cheers her on (13:13). End credits (13:39).
Her Majesty’s Yacht Britannia, also known as the Royal Yacht Britannia, is the former royal yacht of the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, in service from 1954-97. During her 43-year career, the yacht travelled more than a million nautical miles around the globe. Now retired from royal service, Britannia is berthed in Edinburgh, Scotland.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
