75th Anniversary of Royal Family Visit to South Africa Day 53

-

 Day 53: 24th March 1947

Programme

10.00am Arrive Vryheid

11.30am Depart Vryheid by Train

Train stops on route including Commondale

8.00pm  Arrive for overnight stop near Ermelo

Postal Covers for the 24th March 1947





An example of headed paper from the Royal Train dated 24th March 1947



An introduction to Vryheid


Two pictures from a magazine from Vryheid


The Royal Family inspects a parade of ex-soldiers.



The Royal Train stopped at Commondale. This was the first stop in the Transvaal. The Royal Family met Cornelius Mostert a 7ft 3in giant of a man. This was measured by the King himself after the King was told that Cornelius was only 6ft 9in and the King did not believe it.
This large picture (full page ) graced the Illustrated London News to emphasize his size.






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

75th Anniversary of Royal Family Visit to South Africa Day 103

-
Image
 Last Day of this Blog. My thanks to those of you who have looked over the last 102 days. The blog has been seen in 26 different countries. Some last items regarding what happened after the Tour finished. Postal Cover another one dated the 12th May 1947 with the Captain's franking but strangely using South West Africa stamps. The last part of the return to England by the Royal Family was on the 15th May when there was a Luncheon and Concert in the Royal Families honour at the Guildhall. Couple of items that happened after the Royal Tour. A thank you to the New Captain and the Crew from HRH Princess Elizabeth for her wedding present and she mentions fond memories of the time spent on the ship Our Electrician on the Royal Train received afterwards a certificate of thank you The Royal Mint issued this commemorative coin THE END
Read more

75th Anniversary of Royal Family Visit to South Africa Day 100

-
Image
 Day 100: 10th May 1947 Captains Diary The Princesses in the morning visited the Engine Room & Boiler Room and then steered the ship from the Lower Steering Position. Later the whole Royal Family visited the Transmitter Station and Forward Computer Room. In the afternoon a photograph of the Royal Family with the ships crew was taken on the Quarter Deck. The Royal Family dined in the Wardroom.  HMS Diadem was detached to Plymouth at 1100 to land an urgent appendicitis case.  A couple of postal covers, one is connected to HMS Vanguard and has the slogan in black and the other one has the slogan in red. Both covers have the slogan Maritime Mail. What happened after the Royal Tour re the dignitaries and aircraft: Captain/Vice Admiral Agnew Agnew was given command of  HMS  Excellent , the Royal Navy's gunnery school in 1943. In 1946 he was given command of  HMS  Vanguard , remained aboard her after his promotion to rear-admiral in January 1947 and was i...
Read more

75th Anniversary of Royal Family Visit to South Africa Day 101 inc sketches by Frank Beresford

-
Image
 Day 101:11th May 1947 Captains Diary HMS Diadem re-joined at 0200. 1000 the King gave a speech to the ship's company on the Quarter Deck and thanked the crew and granted 3 days extra leave to each watch. I then (Captain) presented to the King and the other members of the Royal Family a souvenir gift from the Captain, Officers and Ships Company. Sketches of the HMS Vanguard returning by famous artist Frank Beresford. Sketches A3 in size. Beresford info from Wikipedia Beresford was born in Derby in 1881 and had a long artistic education. He first studied at the  Derby School of Art , then  St John's Wood Art School , and finally at the  Royal Academy Schools . His talent was rewarded with a travel scholarship that took him to Asia. From 1906 he returned to exhibit at the  Royal Academy . In 1936, Beresford made the only painting of the Princes' keeping vigil with their father's body overnight. It was titled  The Princes' Vigil: 12.15am, January 28, 1936 , an...
Read more