My one memory of seeing Queen Elizabeth II
Millions of people around the world have seen the Queen over the years as she had travelled extensively. I thought I should share my one experience of seeing her. My mother and I talked about this after the Queen’s passing this week, and we reflected on the fond memory.
I grew up in Newfoundland and Labrador and she visited three times over the years: 1959, 1978, and 1997. This gave me one opportunity to see her and that was in 1978 when I was a young child.
I grew up in the capital, St. John’s, and in 1978 the Queen visited our famous annual sporting event – Royal St. John's Regatta. This is a series of rowing races on a lake in the city called Quidi Vidi, alongside the similarly named village. This is said to be the North American colonizers’ oldest sporting event and it dates to 1816. It happens each year in August and the day is a civic holiday.
Around the lake there is a carnival-like atmosphere. There are games of chance, music, booze, and of food vendors with a crush of people in attendance. At that time my church would have two booths selling soda and hotdogs to raise money. A late-night shift would setup the booths that were just a big tent made from wood and plastic sheets. Then more volunteers would staff the booths during the day.
I was four years old at the time and very much visually impaired. My “job” was assisting my mom with taking orders and being as helpful as a half blind four-year-old could be. We were serving a man a hotdog and my mom asked him if he would like mustard or ketchup on it. Just as she asked, someone shouted out “the Queen is coming!”.
Mom quickly grabbed my hand, and we raced out of the back of the booth to get to the street behind it. Everyone was cheering and waving, and a convertible car slowly drove right by me with the waving Queen. This was just a regular one lane road which meant we were right there to see her. My mom pointed the Queen out for me to be sure I could see her. I was excited not specifically because I understood who she was but because my mom and everyone else was.
With the Queen having driven by, we went back to the tent. My mom realized that the whole time she was still carrying the poor guy’s hotdog in one hand and was possibly waving it around at the Queen. She trashed it, got another, and found the man still waiting. She apologized and asked again, “would you like mustard or ketchup?”
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