Queen Elizabeth II: some geographical connections

on

The nation is in a period of mourning after the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

Yesterday, our whole King's Ely school community from Y3 upwards packed into Ely Cathedral for a brief service of commemoration with an address from the Principal, time for silent thought, and prayers led by the Dean.

The Queen had some strong connections with our subject community as well.

She had no passport, as they were issued in her name, but travelled widely:


She was obviously very much linked with the Commonwealth, and visited all countries of the Commonwealth apart from Cameroon and Rwanda. 

The Queen was the patron of the Royal Geographical Society for over 60 years, and this role may well be taken up by King Charles III.

In 1953, the Queen attended a special screening of the film chronicling the conquering of Everest, in an event attended by Edmund Hillary and others linked with the expedition, whose success was announced on the day of her Coronation.

Some 10 years later at the 20th International Geographical Congress, Her Majesty opened the proceedings and stressed the importance of international cooperation in geographical research. 

She also highlighted the importance of geographers in recording and interpreting the impact of the profound changes in both human and physical environments witnessed over the previous decades.
She has also spoken about the need for us to look after the planet, saying that:

"The future of all life on Earth depends on how we behave and how we treat the plants and animals that share our world with us".

Stamps were released at the time to commemorate this event.

I have copies of these stamps which I purchased on eBay as part of the project to produce the biographies of all the GA Presidents.


I also have a copy of the booklet that was produced for the event, with details of the sessions and fieldtrips that took place.

Her Majesty was also the patron of the Field Studies Council - one of the GA's strategic partners:

 Some islands in the Arctic are named after Queen Elizabeth.

They form part of the Qikiqtaaluk region of Nunavut.

A fairly large part of Antarctica is also called Queen Elizabeth Land - stretching from the Ronne Ice Shelf to the South Pole.


The Crown Estate is also one of the largest landowners in the country, owning most of the seabed out to the territorial sea limit of 12 nautical miles.

There's also a story map and resources here, from Historic England exploring the cultural heritage of the country that was visited by the Queen during her reign.

Update

Comments

Post a Comment