Race-goers prefer to watch the Royal Couple rather than
the horses during the Auckland Racing Club's meeting at Ellerslie on Boxing
Day 1953.
(click on image for more detail)
Why was the 1953-54 Royal Visit such a huge event for New Zealanders?
This was the first time a reigning monarch had set foot in New Zealand.�
Previous royal visitors had either been sons or brothers of the monarch -
Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh in 1869, Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and
York in 1901, Prince of Wales in 1920, Duke and Duchess of York in 1927, Duke
of Gloucester in 1934-5.
Hopes for a visit by the monarch had been raised over the previous decade:
There had been discussions of a visit by George VI in 1940, but the war
prevented this.
A detailed itinerary was prepared for a tour by the king in March 1949,
but he fell ill.
A shortened tour was planned for May 1952, and when the king again fell
ill it was decided Princess Elizabeth would come instead.� But at the first
stop on this tour, in Africa, the young princess learned of her father's death
and she returned home.
The Queen's coronation in June 1953 heightened interest in royalty in New
Zealand.
The state was heavily involved in overseeing preparations for the tour and
ensuring its success.� Internal Affairs were the main organisers, but Tourist
and Publicity, Defence, Railways (which supplied the special royal trains),
Works, Maori Affairs, Police and the Education departments all put enormous
energies into the tour.
The war had strengthened New Zealanders' sense of their relationship with
Britain. Where Britain went, New Zealand went.� New Zealand's trade was overwhelmingly
with Britain (67.5 of our exports in 1953, 56% of our imports), and British
people were our most important immigrants (65% in 1953-54).
By 1953 New Zealand had recovered from depression and war.� Indeed the boom
in wool prices created by the Korean War had carried New Zealand to the second
highest standard of living in the world.� There was a general satisfaction
with New Zealand life and the Royal Visit became a way of presenting this modern
paradise to the world.
Opposition to the 1953-54 Tour
While there was considerable debate and controversy about the details of the
royal tour, including the 'battle of the royal visit milk tops' provoked by
the decision of Internal Affairs that the use of the royal crest on Wellington
City milk tops was unconstitutional, there was very little overt opposition
to the tour as such.� Some individuals protested.� The communist mayor of Brunner,
Leonard Richardson, refused to dress up in a suit and boycotted the Queen's
dinner.� A Wanganui resident refused to leave a shop and watch the royals pass
by, saying, 'I'm not getting up for those Pommie buggers!' But even the Communist
Party did not speak out against the Queen and merely criticised the amount of
money spent on decorations.� In later tours there was more organised protest
encouraged especially by the Republican movement of New Zealand.
