Tracing Queen Elizabeth II Footprints In Matabeleland – In remembrance Of The late Prince Phillip
Calvin Manika
Zimbabwe re-engagement efforts since November 2017 include among others to re-join the commonwealth community. Commonwealth is an association of nations consisting of the United Kingdom and several former British colonies that are now sovereign states but still cooperate and work with the British Crown for social and economic development. There is a room for the two countries to come together and walk along as before.
I am writing at a time, the United Kingdom and the world at large is mourning the passing on of Queen Elizabeth’s husband, Prince Phillip. It is a loss for the commonwealth.
Zimbabwe sent the message of condolences to the Queen, consoling the royal family. Efforts for Zimbabwe to re-join common commonwealth seems to in the right direction. But, history has something worth writing about the Queen and Matabeleland North. It is not widely spoken or written.
But, the Queen knows the Victoria Falls and of course Hwange, not from Google.
Her majesty Queen Elizabeth has been in the country for notable times. Peter Roberts in his 2017 research book ‘Footsteps Through Time – A History of Travel and Tourism to the Victoria Falls’ chronicled the British Royal Family visit to Zimbabwe.
In 1947 the British Royal Tour of the Union of South Africa included the Victoria Falls, with Their Majesties King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, and their two daughters, Their Royal Highnesses the Princess Elizabeth (now the reigning monarch, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II) and Princess Margaret, all staying at the Victoria Falls Hotel, which was reserved entirely for their use.
This visit was the first overseas state visit since the outbreak of the war in 1939 and was celebrated with much pomp and fanfare. The young Princess Elizabeth also celebrated her 21st birthday during the tour. South African Railways provided a newly built Royal Train, the Garratt locomotives of which was painted deep royal blue and which were used throughout the tour of Rhodesia.
Staying at the Victoria Falls Hotel over the Easter weekend, the Royal party celebrated divine service in the Hotel chapel.
The visit was a welcome break following many public engagements during the tour, and repeated visits were made to the Victoria Falls. The records found in the archives by the Zambezi Times showed that, the Royal Family visited the Victoria Falls on two separate days.
They saw them under the sun and under the moon, from the level of the upper river, and from that of the gorge. They walked through the ‘Rain Forest’ opposite the Main Falls, where the spray forms a perpetual cloud, and where the King remarked that for the first time in his life he had been soaked even through his hat.
Their Majesties’ suite was on the first floor of the south wing, which for many years after was known as the Queen’s Suite, and the Princesses suite located on the ground floor of the same wing.
The royal family remained with Zimbabwe in mind. On 30 June 1953 the Royal Party set out from London on a trip to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) to participate and officiate at the Rhodes Centenary Celebrations.
This Royal Tour was specifically scheduled to open the Rhodes Centenary Exhibition in Bulawayo, as well as the unveiling of the Fairbridge Memorial. The tour was originally scheduled for Princess Elizabeth, but due to the King George VI’s death in February 1952 schedules were rearranged, with the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret attending instead.
On 13 October 1991 Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II visited the country again. She toured the Great Zimbabwe ruins of one of Southern Africa’s oldest empires and said she was impressed by the towering dry-stone structures.
The queen left Harare in the morning for the southern town of Masvingo and Great Zimbabwe, a prime tourist attraction, on the third day of a five-day state visit. The following day the royal party arrived in Bulawayo from Masvingo on Saturday, ended her two-day visit to the city by attending a church service at the Anglican Church’s St John Cathedral before leaving for Hwange on a private visit.
The Queen was in the company of her husband, the late Prince Phillip, the Duke of Edinburgh, was greeted by hundreds of people who had gathered outside the cathedral in Sixth Avenue and George Silundika. On the same visit Queen Elizabeth II attended the sixth Zimbabwe Heritage Exhibition at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe.
