Queen Elizabeth II became New Zealand's monarch on 6 February 1952. This year she celebrates her Diamond (60th) Jubilee, which will be marked by various events around the Commonwealth. Over the 60 years of Elizabeth's reign, both New Zealand and its monarchy have changed considerably.
New Zealand has had a governor or (from 1917) a Governor-General since 1840. The work of these men and women has reflected the constitutional and political history of New Zealand in many ways.
For those New Zealanders old enough to have experienced it, the visit of the young Queen and her dashing husband, Prince Philip, to New Zealand in the summer of 1953-54, is a never-to-be forgotten event.
The Queen is New Zealand’s head of state. Her title was confirmed by Royal Titles Acts of 1953 and 1974, the latter entitling her ‘Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God Queen of New Zealand and Her Other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith’.
Following her stay in Auckland and her visits to Waitangi, Hamilton and Rotorua, the Queen and Duke had a break for five days at Lake Rotoiti, and then flew to Gisborne and Napier. The theme for the next few days was the pastoral productivity of New Zealand.
As head of the Church of England she laid the foundation stone of the Anglican cathedral, and as head of the Commonwealth's armed forces she laid a wreath at the cenotaph. Such events emphasised the loyalty of New Zealanders to the British Empire and Commonwealth.
On the day of the reception for children at Athletic Park, the Evening Post wrote: 'As the mother of two young children 12,000 miles away, the Queen today assumed the role of mother to her wider family, and it was this maternal aspect that so caught the imagination and love of the New Zealand citizens of the future'.
On 30 January 1954 the Gothic sailed from Bluff and after a brief side trip into Milford Sound, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip departed for Australia. They have returned nine times since then.
Māori ‘were primarily concerned to express their loyalty to the Crown and to win acceptance as New Zealand citizens.’ They were just as enthusiastic about the tour as other New Zealanders.
The brief postwar social consensus started to fray from the 1960s. More frequent visits by the Queen and other members of her family probably reduced some of the mystique. At the same time the media may have also made the formerly exotic more familiar.
Waikato–Tainui was the first iwi to reach an historical settlement with the Crown for past injustices that went back to the 1860s. The Deed of Settlement included cash and land valued at $170 million.
