queen's visit to bermuda 1953

The Queen’s First Visit to Bermuda in 1953

September 8, 2022

Queen Elizabeth II, the UK’s longest-serving monarch, has died at Balmoral aged 96, after reigning for 70 years.

The Bermudian celebrates the Queen with an account of her visit to the island on November 24th, 1953, five months after her coronation. This article first appeared in the January 1954 commemorative issue of The Bermudian.

Bermuda had never looked more immaculate. For weeks ahead of the great and unprecedented occasion Colonial, municipal, and parochial authorities had laboured to have the island looking at its very best. Private individuals pitched in with equal ardour, trimming hedges, manicuring lawns, slapping fresh paint on houses and gateways, and removing anything unsightly that lay within view of the public highways.

Indeed, Bermuda looked freshly scrubbed and behaved somewhat like a beautiful young woman who had just come of age and was making preparation for her debut at court and presentation to her Sovereign-fussing tirelessly with her costume, endlessly primping, and arriving at the great day in a state of jittery exaltation. And that is about what it amounted to. Britain’s oldest Colony was getting ready to welcome Her Majesty the Queen, Elizabeth the Second, the first reigning monarch ever to visit the remote islands.

Shortly after dawn on the morning of November 24th, 1953-a memorable date in Bermuda’s long history-crowds began massing at various vantage points along the route the Queen and her consort, His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, would take in their scheduled tour of the tiny island. By 9 a.m. His Excellency the Governor, Lt. Gen. Sir Alexander Hood, Lady Hood, Miss Rosemary Hood, high Government officials, top representatives of British and American naval and military establishments here, various other dignitaries and their wives, had gathered at the Civil Airport at Kindley Field to witness the Royal arrival and have the honour of being presented to the lovely young Queen.

• AT THE AIRPORT
• The atmosphere was electric with nervous tension and excited expectancy as the minutes dragged by.

Ten a.m. was the hour when British Overseas Airways’ stratocruiser Canopus was to arrive carrying the Royal party. Regular bulletins on the momentous flight across the Atlantic had been broadcast over Radio Bermuda: the departure from the London airport on the previous evening, the brief stop for refuelling at Gander, Newfoundland, where a wildly cheering crowd had gathered to catch a glimpse of their Queen in the bitter early hours of the northern winter.

The luxurious 60-ton aircraft, identical to that which had borne the young Queen, as H.R.H. Princess Elizabeth, to Canada two years ago, was reported at 9.30 a.m. to be 20 minutes ahead of schedule. This word filtered through the waiting crowds and reacted a new flurry of activity among the clusters of reporters, photographers, newsreel and television commentators occupying two enclosures near the landing trip. The Bermuda Rifle and Bermuda Militia forming a joint guard of honour under the command of Major Brownlow Tucker, practiced presenting arms in rehearsal for the big moment to come.

Those who were to be presented to the Queen formed a single line directly in front of the honour guard, chatting with each other in nervous gaiety.

A momentary diversion came when five of Hugh Watlington’s natty seaplanes flew in from the northeast, dipping low over the airport to alight in neighbouring Castle Harbour. Presently three white-garbed member of BOAC’s ground crew strode onto the field and took up position on a yellow circular island, in their hands the wooden signals which would guide Capt. Anthony C. Loraine, BOAC’s most experienced pilot, to the exact spot to deliver his precious cargo.

“There she is!” The words issued from a hundred throats as the Royal plane appeared in the northern sky, a tiny but unmistakable peck that swiftly grew larger as it circled St. George’s, disappearing from view then returning to begin its run-in from the Southwest. The wheels touched down in a perfect landing and Canopus once again vanished from view behind the airport buildings. The crowd waited, necks craning as the stratocruiser, glinting silver and white in the sunlight, turned to taxi up the runway, the Royal Standard flying from the cabin roof. The huge aircraft came to a stop while the seconds ticked off to bring time to 10 o’clock. The plexiglass coping of the pilot’s cockpit was pushed back, and Capt. Loraine, looking somewhat strained, leaned out, the main lap of his very responsible job completed. The gangway was rolled into place, the cabin door opened. A hush fell upon the crowd.

The Queen appeared.

She stood motionless for a moment. From the crowds came a great sigh, sounding like wind in the trees. Then they gave tongue in a tremendous cheer, as Her Majesty slowly descended the gangway ,the skirt of her aquamarine silk print frock whipping gently in the breeze. Her close-fitting shell hat was a lighter blue, and she wore elbow-length white gloves, white court shoes, and carried a white handbag. After her came the Duke of Edinburgh in the white uniform of an admiral of the Fleet, followed by other member of the Royal party; Sir Michael Adeane, the Queen’s private secretary, Lady Alice Egerton, the Queen’s lady-in-waiting, and Lt. Comdr. Michael Parker, R.N., the Duke’s private secretary.

At the foot of the gangway the Queen and her Consort were greeted by His Excellency the Governor, Lady Hood, Miss Hood, the A.D.C., Capt. Roper- Curzon, and Lt. Col. the Hon. Martin Charteris, assistant private secretary to the Queen who had arrived in Bermuda several days ahead of the Royal party.

Her Majesty, looking amazingly fresh and unfatigued -after her long flight, walked forward with His Excellency, and the Duke with Lady Hood, to take up positions for the presentations. As each man and his wife were presented, the Queen extended her hand and gave each that dazzling smile and intent gaze which have won the hearts of innumerable thousands. With some, including Captain Allen Smith jr. commandant of the U.S Naval station here, and Colonel G. B. Peterson, a officer commanding the Kindley Field U.S Air Force Base, the Queen and the Duke chatted briefly as they were being presented.

With the presentation over, the guard of honour presented arms and the National Anthem was played by the band of the Bermuda Militia. Her Majesty accompanied by Major Brownlow Tucker, then inspected the guard who were drawn up in two lines before the air terminal building. The crowd watched silently, faces eloquent with emotion, as the beautiful young Queen moved graciously through the order of events arranged for her by the island.

As her Majesty left the airfield to pass through the terminal building, another burst of cheering went up, and people scrambled through back passages to catch another glimpse of her as she entered her car. The thrill cries of school children lined up at the exit of the terminal rose in wild crescendo as the Royal couple appeared. The Queen was now carrying a bouquet of white chrysanthemums, her favourite flower, which had been presented to her by nine-year-old Stephen Spurling, son of Mr. Dudley Spurling, M.C.P. and grandson of Sir Stanley Spurling.

As the Royal party approached the cars, lined up in readiness to take them to the ancient town of St. George’s, the children, madly waving miniature Union Jacks shrieked their welcome. The Queen smiled her acknowledgement and gave them a graceful wave of her hand as her car drove away.

IN THE OLD TOWN

As the Royal motorcade passed over the swing bridge towards St. George’s, the Queen’s attention was drawn by lusty cheering from a group of 33 boys from the Nonsuch Training School under the care of Mr. Arthur St. George Tucker who were on board the Sea Horse , moored a few yards to the west of the bridge. Along the route to the eastward were flags and decorations expressive of the loyalty and affection which the people of Bermuda bear their Queen. The roadsides were ablaze with variegated bunting, and lined with cheering crowds. As the Queen entered St. George’s she passed under an archway adorned with the Commonwealth colours.

After being driven around the town square, Her Majesty stepped from her car and was greeted by the Mayor of St. George’s. The Royal Standard was broken out and the National Anthem was played by the Church Lads’ Brigade. The Mayor then handed the town’s loyal address to Her Majesty and received from her a message of thanks. There followed presentations of members of the House of Assembly representing the three eastern parishes, members of the Corporation, chairmen of parish vestries, together with their wives.

Leaving the square the party walked slowly towards St Peter’s, oldest Anglican church in the western hemisphere. The steps of the church were lined by Girl Guides and Brownies. The Queen was greeted by Archdeacon John Stow, rector of St. Peter’s, and with him climbed the steps and passed through the portals of the church which has been so closely linked with the history of the island. In 1616 St. Peter’s served as the first meeting place of the court of general assize, and within its walls the first General Assembly met in August 1620. The first Crown Governor sent to Bermuda, Sir Robert Robinson, had his proclamation read in St. Peter’s in 1687.

For the visit of the Queen the ancient church had the clock on its tower painted royal blue with gold leaf on hands and figures, a fancy derived from the Queen’s own parish church in London.

Inside the church the altar was covered with the gold- fringed blue damasks used in Westminster Abbey for the Queen’s Coronation last June. They had been sent to St. Peter’s for the Royal visit. The church’s treasured Royal communion silver set, given by King William III was laid out on the damasks.

Her Majesty signed a paper gold-embossed with the date, and the Archdeacon then led the group in prayer for the success of the Commonwealth tour. Before leaving the church the Queen discussed the history of St. Peter’s with the Archdeacon.

Cheers from the crowds greeted Her Majesty’s reappearance on the steps of the church, and she smiled warmly upon her young honour guard, St. George’s Girl Guides and Brownies whose faces were radiant with joy and devotion. From the flagpole above the church waved the banner of St. George as the people of the Old Town, which was for 200 years the island’s capital, bade a regretful farewell to the Queen and the Duke.

TO GOVERNMENT HOUSE

The Royal calvacade drove off towards Hamilton, the island’s capital since 1815. From the black open car in which they rode, the Queen and the Duke acknowledged the cheers from crowds along the route. Riding in the front seat was the Queen’s private secretary, Sir Michael Adeane. In the second car were the Queen’s assistant private secretary, Col. the Hon. Martin Charteris, Lady Alice Egerton, lady-in-waiting to Her Majesty, and a plain cloches detective, inconspicuous but omnipresent throughout the Royal tour. In the third car rode His Excellency the Governor Lady Hood, Miss Hood and the A.D.C., Capt. Roper- Curzon.

The party made a brief tour through the U.S Air Force Base at Kindley Field, passed through Gate 2 on S. David’s, and proceeded back to the Civil Airport. Members of the 35th Squadron and U.S. Air Police lined both sides of the road at the Post Exchange. Leaving the airport for the second time the Royal party passed between more lines of cheering school children, crossed Longbird Bridge which was guarded by Air Police, and between two gleaming white pylons erected at the western end of the bridge by Hamilton Parish. One pylon bore the monogram E and the other R. At Harrington Sound the procession crossed to the South Shore Road, slowing down to pass two rows of flagpoles erected by Smith’s Parish at John Smith’s Bay. Parish marshals stood smartly at attention as the cars rolled by.

At Flatts Village Her Majesty was greeted by groups of Brownies, their excited hurrahs evoking smiles of pleasure from the Royal pair. Everywhere along the Royal route children were in the forefront of the crowds.

The cars picked up speed as they approached the North Shore Road entrance to Government House grounds.

There members of the Bermuda Militia and Bermuda Rifle formed a joint guard patrol for 24 hours under the command of Capt. D. H. Burns.

The Queen, clearly possessing the regal quality of punctuality, visited the Royal suite, partook of tea and light refreshment, and was seated in the horse-drawn landau ready to depart in the exact number of minutes allowed by the tight schedule of her tour.

AT CEDAR AVENUE

The entrance to the city of Hamilton on Cedar Avenue was gay with flags and a beautiful floral archway decorated for the great occasion by The Verdmont Florist. Boy scouts from the Dellwood Troop lined the street. There at the city’s boundary waited the Mayor of Hamilton, the Wor. E.R. Williams, M.C.P., members of the Corporation, Members of the Colonial Parliament and other dignitaries, together with wives, who were to be presented to the Queen. The chimes of St. Theresa’s Church pealed a welcome as the state landau approached and came to a halt at the floral arch. The Queen and the Duke alighted and walked towards the Mayor, who placed in Her Majesty’s hand the scroll of welcome which was affixed the official seal of the city. The Queen in turn handed her reply to the Mayor, and then followed the presentations. These over, the Royal couple drove off to the Sessions House where Her Majesty was to address Colonial Parliament.

AT THE SESSIONS HOUSE

The high hill on which the sessions house stands afforded a fine panoramic view of Hamilton Harbour and the buildings of Hamilton festooned with banners and bunting. At anchor in the harbour was H.M.S Veryan Bay , and alongside the Furness Line’s luxury cruise ship Ocean Monarch , both ships dressed for the big day. The grounds of the parliament buildings never looked trimmer than on that day when Her Majesty visited the oldest parliament in the Commonwealth after the Mother or Parliaments at Westminster. The Italianesque design of the clock tower, attributed to the taste of Bermuda’s Governor back in 1887, added an old world touch to the scene.

The state carriage, bearing the Queen and the Duke, rolled along Front Street to the roar of deafening cheers from the crowds who packed the sidewalks, filled the balconies of shop and office buildings, and even clung to steeply inclined rooftops. The landau passed through the west gate and stopped at the steps of Sessions House. The Queen glanced up at the clock in the tower, installed for the Jubilee of her great-grandmother, Queen Victoria.

Her Majesty alighted and was joined by His Excellency the Governor. Smiling and chatting gaily with His Excellency, she climbed the steps and entered the Sessions House.

President of the Legislative Coucnil, the Hon. J. Trounsell Gilbert. The Bishop was robed in white with black and red surplice. The Colonial Secretary wore his official white uniform, while the Attorney-General, the clerk to the Council, Mr. Peter Brooks, wore their black robes. As the Royal Party came up the stairs to the chamber, they were led by Black Rod (Police Commissioner R. G. Henderson) bearing the massive Sword of State. Besides the Queen walked the Duke, followed by the rest of the group. Her Majesty crossed the red carpet and at the Bar was met by the Speaker and the President. Seated in the Throne chair, the Queen had the Duke on her right and His Excellency on her left. Black Rod then placed the Sword of State on the Clerk’s table. His lordship the Bishop offered prayers for the Queen, the Royal Family, the Governor and the Colonial Parliament.

AT ALBUOY’S POINT

After a brief respite from the arduous program at Government House, the Queen drove down Cedar Avenue and alighted from her car at Heyl’s Corner. Refreshed and smiling gaily, she wore a cornflower yellow cot­ton frock, full- skirted and short- sleeved and a white straw cloche draped in white chiffon. Here was massed the biggest crowd seen that day. Girl Guides and Brownies flanked her path, and as assembled on the lawns of the Point were nearly a thousand members of youth organisations and Bermuda war veterans. Her Majesty had expressed her wish to address these groups.

At the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club the Queen, who is the club’s Royal Patron, was met by the Commodore, Mr. DeForest Trimingham, and accom­panied by the Duke, now in civilian clothes, was conducted through the club. The Queen inspected the trophies which included the Prince Elizabeth Cup which she herself had presented in 1948 for international yacht racing in Bermuda waters. Flag officers and the club’s honorary secre­tary, with their wives, were then pre­sented to the Queen. The Royal couple signed the visitor’s book, then passed through the club grounds where members and their wives were assembled, and emerged before the crowd on the Point which burst into tumultuous cheering. Among the groups forming a huge square were veterans of the two great World Wars and earlier war , the Red Cross Auxilliary, St. John’s Ambulance Brigade, Sea Scouts and Rangers, Girl Guides, Brownies and Cubs. To the left of the platform from which the Queen would speak were three veterans of war previous to World War I: Mr. James (“Dick”) Richard, Col. R. J. Tucker, and Mr. Walter Card. These were presented to the Royal couple who chatted with each in turn. Three veterans of World War II, representing the Bermuda War Veteran Association (ex­-Flight. Lt. Hugh Watlington, D.F.M. ex-Corporal A. W. Flood, and ex- Sergt. R. . Butler) were to be introduced to Her Majesty but, in the single slip-up in the day’s program, they were not presented.

After the playing of the National Anthem by the band of the local forces under Mr. S.C. Pye, the Queen and His Excellency mounted the platform as the Royal Standard was broken out by Queen’s scout Hiram Todd.

Hi Excellency addressed the Queen: “The ex- servicemen ,and the youth of this loyal and ancient island here to­day present their humble duty with the assurance of their proud and steadfast loyalty. This day will ever remain a very happy memory to them. It is their earnest prayer that Your Majesty may long be their leader and inspira­tion.”

The Queen replied: “I am very pleased to see so many ex- servicemen and young people here today and I thank them for their expressions of loyalty and devotion. I hope that the young people will follow in the footsteps of the ex-servicemen and become leaders and worthy citizens of these beautiful islands.”

Col. R. C. Earl then led three cheers for Her Majesty, who smiled radiantly. The Royal party then walked towards the Wilhelmina , which had been burn­ished and decorated to serve as the Royal Yacht. The Queen was piped on board by four Bermuda Sea Rangers, Quartermaster Annette Pearman, Cox­swain Margaret Shields, Bosun Barbara Jones and Bosun Molly Hartnell. The Wilhelmina cruised among the islands of Great Sound while luncheon was being served to the Royal party, which included the Colonial secretary, the Hon. 0. R. Arthur, and Mr . Arthur, and Capt. the Hon. and Mr . Bayard Dill. The meal was planned and served by members of the staff of the Castle Harbour Hotel.

IN SOMERSET

Piloting the Royal barge was Mr. Reginald Dill who, after the Wilhelmina docked at Mangrove Bay wharf, received the Royal Victorian Medal from Her Majesty. This award, like seven others that day, came as a complete surprise.

The scene at the wharf was one of breath-taking beauty. With the glit­tering water of the bay as a backdrop, the wharf itself was decorated with flowers, vines and potted plants. There were arrangements of hibiscus in shade of orange, pink and red; hanging baskets of fern and palm, with the white wall adorned with scarlet bougain­villea. The whole design, by Mr. Will Onions had been carried out by members of the Parish Vestry and the Sandys Boat Club. It was beautiful, artistic, and in impeccable taste.

As the Queen disembarked the Royal Standard was broken out on the wharf and the National Anthem played by the Somerset Brigade Band. Presenta­tions followed. The Royal couple signed a special book of the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club, then walked between ranks of cheering schoolchildren toward the waiting cars. Among the group lin­ing the road were patients and nurses from the Children’s Hospital on Ireland Island, including Bermuda “Coronation babies,” the Miller triplet . On seeing them the Queen cried to the Duke, “Oh-look at the babies!” spotting one of the 6-month -old tots bubbling at the mouth the Duke remarked with a grin, “That’s a healthy sign.” Her Majesty and the Duke both chatted with the matron of the Children’ Hos­pital, Mis Anne Dyson.

Entering their car the Royal party drove slowly along Mangrove Bay Road, passing the Armoury where a beautiful banner attracted the Duke’s attention. It had been made by hand by members of the I.O.D.E., of which the Queen is patron. The Royal procession circled the Royal Naval cricket field where crowds had assembled, and made a brief tour of the U.S Naval Station where Her Majesty and the Duke were greeted by the commandant, Capt. Allen Smith jr., and a guard of honour of U.S Marines under Capt. Jack Smith. Naval personnel, in dress blues flanked the route.

The party then drove through South­ampton and Warwick, circling the Port Royal and Empire playing fields where starry-eyed, flag-waving children had gathered to see their Queen, through Paget and past the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, where scores of patients, some in cots, some in wheelchairs, awaited on the lawns. The Royal car slowed down and the Queen waved to them gracefully.

Passing under Paget’s beautiful arch of marigolds and blue-painted fern, the cars rounded the Foot of the Lane, un­der Pembroke’s gaily decorated arch, and along Front Street. Turning up Queen Street the Royal party returned to Government House.

THE DEPARTURE

Before daybreak next morning the Royal party drove to the airport. More than a thousand people had gathered in the darkness for a final glimpse of their Queen. His Excellency and his family, with the dignitaries who had greeted the Royal couple on arrival, now bade farewell to the gracious young pair who had won all hearts with their great personal charm. Her Majesty and the Duke were piped on board BOAC’s Canopus by the Caledonian Society’s official piper, Mr. Thomas Aitchison. At 6 a.m. the silver and blue stratocruiser took off for Jamaica and the forever-to-be-remembered Royal visit was over.

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Historical Photos: Queen Elizabeth II In Bermuda

Government House is reflecting on the Queen’s visits to Bermuda over the past 70 years, posting a series of images online.

Government House posted the photos online below, saying, “With two days until the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, we remember the numerous visits to Bermuda over her 70 year reign.

“Less than six months after her highly publicized Coronation, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II made her first visit to Bermuda on November 23, 1953. The Queen and His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh made Bermuda the first stop on her Coronation tour of the Commonwealth.

“After The Queen’s initial visit to Bermuda she came back to the island on the following dates:

• February 16-18, 1975
• February 13, 1983
• March 8-10, 1994
• November 24-26, 2009 [Bermuda’s 400th Anniversary]

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Milestones of a Monarch: The Commonwealth Tour of 1953-1954

The story of how Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne—that she went up a tree a princess and climbed back down a queen—and the aborted tour of Australia and New Zealand by way of Kenya that had to be postponed is well-documented. But what of her first official tour as The Queen?

In late 1953, The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh embarked on a Commonwealth Tour that would see them visiting 13 Commonwealth realms, travelling over 44,000 miles, and making her the first Monarch to visit Australia and New Zealand.

The Queen and Prince Philip began the Commonwealth Tour on 24 November 1953 in Bermuda, arriving in Jamaica the next day. From there, The Queen and Prince Philip departed Jamaica on 27 November and arrived in Fiji on 17 December.

A tour of Fiji and Tonga ensued from 17-20 December before the couple arrived in New Zealand, making her the first Monarch to visit the realm.

The Queen and Prince Philip spent Christmas in New Zealand, with The Queen recording her Christmas message from Government House in Auckland. She said: “My husband and I left London a month ago, but we have already paid short visits to Bermuda, Jamaica, Fiji and Tonga, and have passed through Panama. I should like to thank all our hosts very warmly for the kindness of their welcome and the great pleasure of our stay.

“In a short time we shall be visiting Australia and later Ceylon and before we end this great journey we shall catch a glimpse of other places in Asia, Africa and in the Mediterranean.

“So this will be a voyage right round the world – the first that a Queen of England has been privileged to make as Queen. But what is really important to me is that I set out on this journey in order to see as much as possible of the people and countries of the Commonwealth and Empire, to learn at first hand something of their triumphs and difficulties and something of their hopes and fears.

“At the same time I want to show that the Crown is not merely an abstract symbol of our unity but a personal and living bond between you and me.”

The Queen and Prince Philip were in New Zealand until 30 January 1954, arriving in Australia for an eight-week tour on 3 February. According to the State Library of New South Wales, in their 58 days touring Australia, they visited 57 towns and cities.

After leaving Australia on 1 April, The Queen and Prince Philip travelled to the Cocos Islands, arriving on 5 April.

From 10-21 April—The Queen’s birthday—they visited Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and on 27 April they visited Aden. The couple then spent the final days of April in Uganda before touring Malta from 3-7 May and wrapping up the Commonwealth Tour in Gibraltar on 10 May.

The Queen and Prince Philip arrived back in London on 15 May 1954 aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia, greeting their young children, Prince Charles and Princess Anne, at the dock.

The Queen would celebrate her Silver Jubilee in 1977 with another break-neck Commonwealth Tour that saw her and Prince Philip visiting 14 countries including Western Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Canada, the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, and Barbados.

In 2002, for the Golden Jubilee, The Queen and Prince Philip visited Jamaica, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada. By 2012, the year of the Diamond Jubilee, The Queen and Prince Philip had all but ceased international visits, so members of the Royal Family undertook tours on their behalf.

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall visited Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited Tuvalu, the Solomon Islands, Malaysia and Singapore.

The Earl and Countess of Wessex visited Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Gibraltar, and Montserrat. The Princess Royal visited Mozambique and Zambia.

Prince Harry visited the Bahamas, Belize, and Jamaica. The Duke of Gloucester visited the British Virgin Islands, Uganda and Malta. The Duke of York visited India

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The Queen of travel

Queen Elizabeth II 1926 - 2022

Queen Elizabeth II leaves Fiji during a royal tour in February 1977. Serge Lemoine/Getty Images

The Queen of travel Journeys of a lifetime

By Francesca Street and Mark Oliver, CNN September 13, 2022

S he was traveling the moment she ascended to the throne, and for much of the next seven decades, Queen Elizabeth II criss-crossed the world. Newly married and still just a princess, Britain’s future monarch was in Kenya with husband Prince Philip in February 1952 when she learned of her father’s death and her new regal status.

During her reign she would visit more than 120 countries, witnessing first-hand the revolutions in global travel that shrank the world as her own influence over it diminished.

The Queen lived through the advent of the Jet Age, flew supersonic on the Concorde, saw regimes change, countries form and dissolve, the end of the British Empire and the rise of globalization.

Here are some of the most memorable travel moments from her 70 years as monarch.

November 24-25, 1953

Less than six months after she was crowned at Westminster Abbey in London, Queen Elizabeth set off on her travels again. Her debut official state trip was an epic six-month tour of the Commonwealth -- the alliance of nations which were once British colonies. Traveling by air, sea and land she visited several countries, accompanied by her husband, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. First stop was the North Atlantic island of Bermuda, a British territory she would visit a further four times during her reign. The trip would go on to include stops in Jamaica, Tonga, New Zealand, Australia, Cocos Islands, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Aden (now part of Yemen), Uganda, Malta and Gibraltar.

December 19-20, 1953

At Queen Elizabeth’s coronation in June 1953, Queen Salote Tupou III of the Polynesian kingdom of Tonga won over the British public when she sat, rain-soaked, in her open carriage. They also took an interest when Elizabeth returned the visit later in the year. The two queens enjoyed an open-air feast, watched Tongan dancers and admired a tortoise that legend said was presented by explorer Captain James Cook to the King of Tonga in 1777.

December 23, 1953 – January 30, 1954

New zealand.

The Queen voyaged to New Zealand during the Antipodean summer of 1953-4. Over the course of the trip, it’s estimated that three out of every four New Zealanders got a glimpse of her. In preparation for the Queen’s visit, some New Zealand sheep were dyed in the UK flag colors of red, white and blue. The Queen returned to the country nine times over the years, including in 2002 as she marked half a century on the throne.

April 10-21, 1954

Ceylon (now sri lanka).

A visit to Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, coincided with the Queen’s 28th birthday. She visited the city of Colombo where crowds joined together to sing her “Happy Birthday.” She also visited the central city of Kandy, where she watched a procession featuring a reported 140 elephants and met local chiefs.

April 8-11, 1957

The Queen had visited France as a young princess, but her first state visit as monarch was a glamorous affair. She attended the Palais Garnier opera house in Paris, visited the Palace of Versailles, and dined at the Louvre with then-President Rene Coty. The Queen also laid a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Arc de Triomphe and visited the Scottish Church of Paris.

October 17-20, 1957

United states.

Having met President Harry S. Truman in Washington in 1951 during a visit before ascending to the throne, Elizabeth was no stranger to America when she arrived on her first trip as Queen. Her 1957 visit marked the 350th anniversary of the first permanent British settlement on the continent, in Jamestown. The monarch attended a college football game at the former Byrd Stadium in Maryland where she watched the home team lose to North Carolina. She met with President Dwight D. Eisenhower in the White House and later traveled to New York, where she and Prince Philip drove through the streets and admired panoramic views of the city from the Empire State Building.

February 1-16, 1961

The Queen and Prince Philip visited Pakistan in 1961, arriving in the port city of Karachi after completing a visit to India as part of a wider tour of South Asia. She drove through the streets of Karachi in an open-top car, before going on to visit Lahore, where a torchlight military tattoo took place in her honor and Prince Philip played in a game of polo.

February 26 to March 1, 1961

In Nepal, the Queen inspected troops in Kathmandu and met Gurkha ex-servicemen in Pokhara. The monarch rode on an elephant and visited the Hanuman Dhoka Palace complex in Kathmandu. She took part in the rather grim spectacle of a tiger hunt although didn’t shoot any animals herself. She instead recorded the experience on cine camera – a recording device that she often carried with her on her earlier foreign trips.

March 2-6, 1961

The Queen visited pre-revolution Iran at the end of her 1961 South Asian tour. Hosted by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, she toured ancient monuments including the ruins of Persepolis, once a capital of the Achaemenid Empire, later declared a World Heritage Site. She also saw Sheikh Lotfollah mosque in Esfahan and admired collections of the Archaeological Museum of Iran.

May 5, 1961

Vatican city.

In 1961, Elizabeth became the first British monarch to visit the Vatican. Dressed all in black, the Queen had an audience with Pope John XXIII, also attended by Prince Philip. She returned to the Vatican three more times during her reign, meeting Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis.

November 9-20, 1961

Bombing incidents in the capital Accra left officials worried about the safety of the Queen’s visit to Ghana but, after deliberation, UK Prime Minister Harold Macmillan confirmed it would go ahead. During the trip, the Queen famously shared a dance with Ghana’s then-president, Kwame Nkrumah. At the height of Cold War uncertainty, this seemingly innocuous moment was seen as significant in ensuring Ghana remained affiliated to Britain and not the USSR.

May 18-28, 1965

West germany (now germany).

The Queen’s visit to West Germany and West Berlin was viewed as a symbolic gesture of goodwill in the post-World War II landscape. It was the first royal trip to German territory for more than 50 years and photographs such as one of the Queen and Prince Philip in a car driving past the Brandenburg Gate had symbolic resonance.

November 5-11, 1968

Queen Elizabeth became the first reigning British monarch to visit South America when she landed in Brazil in late 1968. During the trip, the Queen wore a striking jewelry set made of Brazilian aquamarine, gifted to her in 1953 by the Brazilian president and added to over time. The monarch also attended a football match between Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, and presented the winner’s trophy to Brazilian footballer Pele.

October 18-25, 1971

On the first of two trips to Turkey -- the second took place in 2008 -- the Queen visited the Gallipoli peninsula to remember the Allied soldiers who died there during World War I. The monarch also explored the ruins of the ancient Greek empire city of Ephesus. A media highlight of the visit came when she was photographed leaping ashore from a barge, after disembarking from her ship, the Royal Yacht Britannia.

February 10-15, 1972

Accompanied by Prince Philip and daughter Princess Anne, the Queen was greeted on arrival in Bangkok by a carpet of flower petals. The monarch was given a golden key to the city of Bangkok, attended a state banquet and visited Bang Pa-In Palace, the Thai royal family’s summer residence, north of the capital.

October 17-21, 1972

The Queen’s visit to Yugoslavia was her first trip to a communist country. The Central European country no longer exists -- the areas that the Queen visited are now part of Croatia. During her trip, she met Yugoslav political leader Josip Broz Tito and traveled on his famous Blue Train.

February 15-16, 1974

New hebrides (now vanuatu).

The Queen and Prince Philip visited the Pacific island archipelago of Vanuatu, then known as the New Hebrides, in 1974. It’s said the royal couple’s visit to Vanuatu may have strengthened the belief among some locals on Tanna island that the Duke of Edinburgh was a divine being.

February 24-March 1, 1975

On her first of two visits to Mexico, the Queen toured ancient sites -- including the pyramids of Uxmal, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The monarch also received local crafts, met school children and attended a banquet. While she was driven through Mexico City, the Queen was showered in confetti.

February 17-20, 1979

Saudi arabia.

In 1979, the Queen became the first female head of state to visit Saudi Arabia, on a tour of Gulf States. At Riyadh Airport, she was met by King Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, pictured. The outfits she wore on the trip were carefully designed in accordance with Saudi Arabia’s conservative dress code for women. The Queen arrived on a British Airways supersonic Concorde aircraft and during the visit attended camel races and toured the National Museum.

October 26-27, 1982

The Queen visited Tuvalu, a group of nine islands in the South Pacific, in 1982. Upon arrival, the Queen and Prince Philip were carried in a flower-filled canoe from sea to shore. Thirty years later, in 2012, Prince William visited Tuvalu with his wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, who drank a coconut from a tree planted by Queen Elizabeth on this 1982 visit.

February 26 – March 6, 1983

On a star-studded trip to the United States, the Queen toured the 20th Century-Fox studios in Hollywood with then-First Lady Nancy Reagan and met Frank Sinatra, who she’d previously met in the 1950s, at a party given in her honor. The Queen and Prince Philip also visited Yosemite National Park in California, pictured.

November 10-14, 1983

The Queen returned to Kenya in 1983 for a state visit. When she was there 31 years previously, she'd learned that her father had passed away and she had become Britain’s reigning monarch. In 1983, the Queen and Prince Philip revisited the Treetops hotel, pictured, where they were staying at the time she was told the news.

October 12-18, 1986

The Queen’s trip to China was the first -- and, so far, only -- state visit by a British monarch to China. With Prince Philip by her side, the Queen visited the Great Wall of China, pictured, as well as the Forbidden City in Beijing.

October 17-20, 1994

In 1994, in another royal first, the Queen visited Russia. Over the three-day trip, the Queen met Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov, pictured here with the monarch outside St Basil’s Cathedral, as well as Russian President Boris Yeltsin. The Queen also attended the Bolshoi Ballet. In her traditional Christmas Day speech broadcast later that year, the Queen reflected on how times had changed, noting she “never thought it would be possible in [her] lifetime” to attend a service in Moscow’s famous cathedral.

March 19-25, 1995

South africa.

In 1994, after apartheid ended, South Africa rejoined the Commonwealth as a republic. The following year, the Queen traveled there, in a visit designed to renew ties between the two countries. The Queen met with President Nelson Mandela, pictured, and presented him with the Order of Merit.

October 12-18, 1997

The Queen visited India for the third time in 1997, her first public engagement since Princess Diana’s funeral just weeks before. The trip marked 50 years since India’s independence from Britain. Most memorably, the monarch visited the site of the Amritsar massacre, also known as the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, of April 13, 1919. She also expressed regret at a state banquet in New Delhi for the “distressing” episode in which British soldiers gunned down hundreds of unarmed civilians. The gesture was seen by some as inadequate. “The Queen is doing everything she can to make India like her. But so far it does not seem to be working,” wrote the UK’s Independent newspaper at the time.

October 4-15, 2002

The Queen visited Canada many times. In 2002, her trip to the North American country coincided with her Golden Jubilee festivities, celebrating 50 years of her reign. During the trip, the Queen attended an ice hockey game between the Vancouver Canucks and the San Jose Sharks, and dropped the ceremonial puck.

March 11-16, 2006

The Queen visited Australia 16 times as Head of State. In 2006, she traveled to Melbourne to open the Commonwealth Games. She was greeted by a welcoming party in Canberra, visited the Sydney Opera House, attended a Commonwealth Day service in St. Andrew’s Cathedral and toured Admiralty House, the Sydney residence of the Governor-General of Australia.

May 17-20, 2011

The Queen’s trip to Dublin was the first time a British monarch had set foot in the Irish Republic since its 1922 independence. At Dublin Castle the Queen delivered a well-received speech on the history of Anglo-Irish relations. In County Tipperary, she also toured the medieval Rock of Cashel, pictured, once a seat of power for Ireland’s ancient kings.

November 26-28, 2015

From 1949 to 1951, before she was Queen, Elizabeth and Prince Philip lived in Malta. In 2015, the monarch paid her last visit to the island, touring the Grand Harbour in a Maltese fishing boat and waving to members of the British Royal Navy.

United Kingdom

In the later years of her reign, the Queen cut back on foreign travel, passing on the mantle to the younger royals. In more recent years, royal tours have also been looked at with more skeptical eyes, as Britain reckons with its colonial past.

While she didn't travel abroad in the later years of her reign, the Queen continued to vacation in the UK. Most notably, the Queen’s ties with Scotland remained strong throughout her reign and her residence there, Balmoral Castle, was a favorite refuge. It was at Balmoral that the Queen died on September 8, 2022.

The Royal Watcher

Queen in bermuda, 1953.

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh began their 6-month Commonwealth Tour in Bermuda , Britain’s oldest surviving Colony, on this day in 1953, following Tours around the United Kingdom after the Queen’s Coronation . The stop in Bermuda was followed by visits to Jamaica ,  Fiji ,  Tonga ,  New Zealand ,  Australia ,  Ceylon , Aden, Uganda, Malta and Gibraltar.

The Bermudian remembers the Queen’s visit:

Shortly after dawn on the morning of November 24th, 1953-a memorable date in Bermuda’s long history-crowds began massing at various vantage points along the route the Queen and her consort, His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, would take in their scheduled tour of the tiny island. By 9 a.m. His Excellency the Governor, Lt. Gen. Sir Alexander Hood, Lady Hood, Miss Rosemary Hood, high Government officials, top representatives of British and American naval and military establishments here, various other dignitaries and their wives, had gathered at the Civil Airport at Kindley Field to witness the Royal arrival and have the honour of being presented to the lovely young Queen.

AT THE AIRPORT The atmosphere was electric with nervous tension and excited expectancy as the minutes dragged by. Ten a.m. was the hour when British Overseas Airways’ stratocruiser  Canopus  was to arrive carrying the Royal party. Regular bulletins on the momentous flight across the Atlantic had been broadcast over Radio Bermuda: the departure from the London airport on the previous evening, the brief stop for refuelling at Gander, Newfoundland, where a wildly cheering crowd had gathered to catch a glimpse of their Queen in the bitter early hours of the northern winter. The luxurious 60-ton aircraft, identical to that which had borne the young Queen, as H.R.H. Princess Elizabeth, to Canada two years ago, was reported at 9.30 a.m. to be 20 minutes ahead of schedule. This word filtered through the waiting crowds and reacted a new flurry of activity among the clusters of reporters, photographers, newsreel and television commentators occupying two enclosures near the landing trip. The Bermuda Rifle and Bermuda Militia forming a joint guard of honour under the command of Major Brownlow Tucker, practiced presenting arms in rehearsal for the big moment to come. Those who were to be presented to the Queen formed a single line directly in front of the honour guard, chatting with each other in nervous gaiety. A momentary diversion came when five of Hugh Watlington’s natty seaplanes flew in from the northeast, dipping low over the airport to alight in neighbouring Castle Harbour. Presently three white-garbed member of BOAC’s ground crew strode onto the field and took up position on a yellow circular island, in their hands the wooden signals which would guide Capt. Anthony C. Loraine, BOAC’s most experienced pilot, to the exact spot to deliver his precious cargo. “There she is!” The words issued from a hundred throats as the Royal plane appeared in the northern sky, a tiny but unmistakable peck that swiftly grew larger as it circled St. George’s, disappearing from view then returning to begin its run-in from the Southwest. The wheels touched down in a perfect landing and  Canopus  once again vanished from view behind the airport buildings. The crowd waited, necks craning as the stratocruiser, glinting silver and white in the sunlight, turned to taxi up the runway, the Royal Standard flying from the cabin roof. The huge aircraft came to a stop while the seconds ticked off to bring time to 10 o’clock. The plexiglass coping of the pilot’s cockpit was pushed back, and Capt. Loraine, looking somewhat strained, leaned out, the main lap of his very responsible job completed. The gangway was rolled into place, the cabin door opened. A hush fell upon the crowd. The Queen appeared. She stood motionless for a moment. From the crowds came a great sigh, sounding like wind in the trees. Then they gave tongue in a tremendous cheer, as Her Majesty slowly descended the gangway ,the skirt of her aquamarine silk print frock whipping gently in the breeze. Her close-fitting shell hat was a lighter blue, and she wore elbow-length white gloves, white court shoes, and carried a white handbag. After her came the Duke of Edinburgh in the white uniform of an admiral of the Fleet, followed by other member of the Royal party; Sir Michael Adeane, the Queen’s private secretary, Lady Alice Egerton, the Queen’s lady-in-waiting, and Lt. Comdr. Michael Parker, R.N., the Duke’s private secretary.

At the foot of the gangway the Queen and her Consort were greeted by His Excellency the Governor, Lady Hood, Miss Hood, the A.D.C., Capt. Roper- Curzon, and Lt. Col. the Hon. Martin Charteris, assistant private secretary to the Queen who had arrived in Bermuda several days ahead of the Royal party. Her Majesty, looking amazingly fresh and unfatigued -after her long flight, walked forward with His Excellency, and the Duke with Lady Hood, to take up positions for the presentations. As each man and his wife were presented, the Queen extended her hand and gave each that dazzling smile and intent gaze which have won the hearts of innumerable thousands. With some, including Captain Allen Smith jr. commandant of the U.S Naval station here, and Colonel G. B. Peterson, a officer commanding the Kindley Field U.S Air Force Base, the Queen and the Duke chatted briefly as they were being presented.

With the presentation over, the guard of honour presented arms and the National Anthem was played by the band of the Bermuda Militia. Her Majesty accompanied by Major Brownlow Tucker, then inspected the guard who were drawn up in two lines before the air terminal building. The crowd watched silently, faces eloquent with emotion, as the beautiful young Queen moved graciously through the order of events arranged for her by the island. As her Majesty left the airfield to pass through the terminal building, another burst of cheering went up, and people scrambled through back passages to catch another glimpse of her as she entered her car. The thrill cries of school children lined up at the exit of the terminal rose in wild crescendo as the Royal couple appeared. The Queen was now carrying a bouquet of white chrysanthemums, her favourite flower, which had been presented to her by nine-year-old Stephen Spurling, son of Mr. Dudley Spurling, M.C.P. and grandson of Sir Stanley Spurling. As the Royal party approached the cars, lined up in readiness to take them to the ancient town of St. George’s, the children, madly waving miniature Union Jacks shrieked their welcome. The Queen smiled her acknowledgement and gave them a graceful wave of her hand as her car drove away.

IN THE OLD TOWN As the Royal motorcade passed over the swing bridge towards St. George’s, the Queen’s attention was drawn by lusty cheering from a group of 33 boys from the Nonsuch Training School under the care of Mr. Arthur St. George Tucker who were on board the  Sea Horse , moored a few yards to the west of the bridge. Along the route to the eastward were flags and decorations expressive of the loyalty and affection which the people of Bermuda bear their Queen. The roadsides were ablaze with variegated bunting, and lined with cheering crowds. As the Queen entered St. George’s she passed under an archway adorned with the Commonwealth colours.

After being driven around the town square, Her Majesty stepped from her car and was greeted by the Mayor of St. George’s. The Royal Standard was broken out and the National Anthem was played by the Church Lads’ Brigade. The Mayor then handed the town’s loyal address to Her Majesty and received from her a message of thanks. There followed presentations of members of the House of Assembly representing the three eastern parishes, members of the Corporation, chairmen of parish vestries, together with their wives. Leaving the square the party walked slowly towards St Peter’s, oldest Anglican church in the western hemisphere. The steps of the church were lined by Girl Guides and Brownies. The Queen was greeted by Archdeacon John Stow, rector of St. Peter’s, and with him climbed the steps and passed through the portals of the church which has been so closely linked with the history of the island. In 1616 St. Peter’s served as the first meeting place of the court of general assize, and within its walls the first General Assembly met in August 1620. The first Crown Governor sent to Bermuda, Sir Robert Robinson, had his proclamation read in St. Peter’s in 1687.

For the visit of the Queen the ancient church had the clock on its tower painted royal blue with gold leaf on hands and figures, a fancy derived from the Queen’s own parish church in London. Inside the church the altar was covered with the gold- fringed blue damasks used in Westminster Abbey for the Queen’s Coronation last June. They had been sent to St. Peter’s for the Royal visit. The church’s treasured Royal communion silver set, given by King William III was laid out on the damasks. Her Majesty signed a paper gold-embossed with the date, and the Archdeacon then led the group in prayer for the success of the Commonwealth tour. Before leaving the church the Queen discussed the history of St. Peter’s with the Archdeacon. Cheers from the crowds greeted Her Majesty’s reappearance on the steps of the church, and she smiled warmly upon her young honour guard, St. George’s Girl Guides and Brownies whose faces were radiant with joy and devotion. From the flagpole above the church waved the banner of St. George as the people of the Old Town, which was for 200 years the island’s capital, bade a regretful farewell to the Queen and the Duke.

TO GOVERNMENT HOUSE The Royal calvacade drove off towards Hamilton, the island’s capital since 1815. From the black open car in which they rode, the Queen and the Duke acknowledged the cheers from crowds along the route. Riding in the front seat was the Queen’s private secretary, Sir Michael Adeane. In the second car were the Queen’s assistant private secretary, Col. the Hon. Martin Charteris, Lady Alice Egerton, lady-in-waiting to Her Majesty, and a plain cloches detective, inconspicuous but omnipresent throughout the Royal tour. In the third car rode His Excellency the Governor Lady Hood, Miss Hood and the A.D.C., Capt. Roper- Curzon. The party made a brief tour through the U.S Air Force Base at Kindley Field, passed through Gate 2 on S. David’s, and proceeded back to the Civil Airport. Members of the 35th Squadron and U.S. Air Police lined both sides of the road at the Post Exchange. Leaving the airport for the second time the Royal party passed between more lines of cheering school children, crossed Longbird Bridge which was guarded by Air Police, and between two gleaming white pylons erected at the western end of the bridge by Hamilton Parish. One pylon bore the monogram E and the other R. At Harrington Sound the procession crossed to the South Shore Road, slowing down to pass two rows of flagpoles erected by Smith’s Parish at John Smith’s Bay. Parish marshals stood smartly at attention as the cars rolled by. At Flatts Village Her Majesty was greeted by groups of Brownies, their excited hurrahs evoking smiles of pleasure from the Royal pair. Everywhere along the Royal route children were in the forefront of the crowds. The cars picked up speed as they approached the North Shore Road entrance to Government House grounds. There members of the Bermuda Militia and Bermuda Rifle formed a joint guard patrol for 24 hours under the command of Capt. D. H. Burns. The Queen, clearly possessing the regal quality of punctuality, visited the Royal suite, partook of tea and light refreshment, and was seated in the horse-drawn landau ready to depart in the exact number of minutes allowed by the tight schedule of her tour.

AT CEDAR AVENUE The entrance to the city of Hamilton on Cedar Avenue was gay with flags and a beautiful floral archway decorated for the great occasion by The Verdmont Florist. Boy scouts from the Dellwood Troop lined the street. There at the city’s boundary waited the Mayor of Hamilton, the Wor. E.R. Williams, M.C.P., members of the Corporation, Members of the Colonial Parliament and other dignitaries, together with wives, who were to be presented to the Queen. The chimes of St. Theresa’s Church pealed a welcome as the state landau approached and came to a halt at the floral arch. The Queen and the Duke alighted and walked towards the Mayor, who placed in Her Majesty’s hand the scroll of welcome which was affixed the official seal of the city. The Queen in turn handed her reply to the Mayor, and then followed the presentations. These over, the Royal couple drove off to the Sessions House where Her Majesty was to address Colonial Parliament.

AT THE SESSIONS HOUSE The high hill on which the sessions house stands afforded a fine panoramic view of Hamilton Harbour and the buildings of Hamilton festooned with banners and bunting. At anchor in the harbour was H.M.S  Veryan Bay , and alongside the Furness Line’s luxury cruise ship  Ocean Monarch , both ships dressed for the big day. The grounds of the parliament buildings never looked trimmer than on that day when Her Majesty visited the oldest parliament in the Commonwealth after the Mother or Parliaments at Westminster. The Italianesque design of the clock tower, attributed to the taste of Bermuda’s Governor back in 1887, added an old world touch to the scene.

The state carriage, bearing the Queen and the Duke, rolled along Front Street to the roar of deafening cheers from the crowds who packed the sidewalks, filled the balconies of shop and office buildings, and even clung to steeply inclined rooftops. The landau passed through the west gate and stopped at the steps of Sessions House. The Queen glanced up at the clock in the tower, installed for the Jubilee of her great-grandmother, Queen Victoria.

Her Majesty alighted and was joined by His Excellency the Governor. Smiling and chatting gaily with His Excellency, she climbed the steps and entered the Sessions House. President of the Legislative Coucnil, the Hon. J. Trounsell Gilbert. The Bishop was robed in white with black and red surplice. The Colonial Secretary wore his official white uniform, while the Attorney-General, the clerk to the Council, Mr. Peter Brooks, wore their black robes. As the Royal Party came up the stairs to the chamber, they were led by Black Rod (Police Commissioner R. G. Henderson) bearing the massive Sword of State. Besides the Queen walked the Duke, followed by the rest of the group. Her Majesty crossed the red carpet and at the Bar was met by the Speaker and the President. Seated in the Throne chair, the Queen had the Duke on her right and His Excellency on her left. Black Rod then placed the Sword of State on the Clerk’s table. His lordship the Bishop offered prayers for the Queen, the Royal Family, the Governor and the Colonial Parliament.

AT ALBUOY’S POINT After a brief respite from the arduous program at Government House, the Queen drove down Cedar Avenue and alighted from her car at Heyl’s Corner. Refreshed and smiling gaily, she wore a cornflower yellow cot­ton frock, full- skirted and short- sleeved and a white straw cloche draped in white chiffon. Here was massed the biggest crowd seen that day. Girl Guides and Brownies flanked her path, and as assembled on the lawns of the Point were nearly a thousand members of youth organisations and Bermuda war veterans. Her Majesty had expressed her wish to address these groups.

At the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club the Queen, who is the club’s Royal Patron, was met by the Commodore, Mr. DeForest Trimingham, and accom­panied by the Duke, now in civilian clothes, was conducted through the club. The Queen inspected the trophies which included the Prince Elizabeth Cup which she herself had presented in 1948 for international yacht racing in Bermuda waters. Flag officers and the club’s honorary secre­tary, with their wives, were then pre­sented to the Queen. The Royal couple signed the visitor’s book, then passed through the club grounds where members and their wives were assembled, and emerged before the crowd on the Point which burst into tumultuous cheering. Among the groups forming a huge square were veterans of the two great World Wars and earlier war , the Red Cross Auxilliary, St. John’s Ambulance Brigade, Sea Scouts and Rangers, Girl Guides, Brownies and Cubs. To the left of the platform from which the Queen would speak were three veterans of war previous to World War I: Mr. James (“Dick”) Richard, Col. R. J. Tucker, and Mr. Walter Card. These were presented to the Royal couple who chatted with each in turn. Three veterans of World War II, representing the Bermuda War Veteran Association (ex­-Flight. Lt. Hugh Watlington, D.F.M. ex-Corporal A. W. Flood, and ex- Sergt. R. . Butler) were to be introduced to Her Majesty but, in the single slip-up in the day’s program, they were not presented.

After the playing of the National Anthem by the band of the local forces under Mr. S.C. Pye, the Queen and His Excellency mounted the platform as the Royal Standard was broken out by Queen’s scout Hiram Todd. Hi Excellency addressed the Queen: “The ex- servicemen ,and the youth of this loyal and ancient island here to­day present their humble duty with the assurance of their proud and steadfast loyalty. This day will ever remain a very happy memory to them. It is their earnest prayer that Your Majesty may long be their leader and inspira­tion.” The Queen replied: “I am very pleased to see so many ex- servicemen and young people here today and I thank them for their expressions of loyalty and devotion. I hope that the young people will follow in the footsteps of the ex-servicemen and become leaders and worthy citizens of these beautiful islands.” Col. R. C. Earl then led three cheers for Her Majesty, who smiled radiantly. The Royal party then walked towards the  Wilhelmina , which had been burn­ished and decorated to serve as the Royal Yacht. The Queen was piped on board by four Bermuda Sea Rangers, Quartermaster Annette Pearman, Cox­swain Margaret Shields, Bosun Barbara Jones and Bosun Molly Hartnell. The  Wilhelmina  cruised among the islands of Great Sound while luncheon was being served to the Royal party, which included the Colonial secretary, the Hon. 0. R. Arthur, and Mr . Arthur, and Capt. the Hon. and Mr . Bayard Dill. The meal was planned and served by members of the staff of the Castle Harbour Hotel.

IN SOMERSET Piloting the Royal barge was Mr. Reginald Dill who, after the Wilhelmina docked at Mangrove Bay wharf, received the Royal Victorian Medal from Her Majesty. This award, like seven others that day, came as a complete surprise. The scene at the wharf was one of breath-taking beauty. With the glit­tering water of the bay as a backdrop, the wharf itself was decorated with flowers, vines and potted plants. There were arrangements of hibiscus in shade of orange, pink and red; hanging baskets of fern and palm, with the white wall adorned with scarlet bougain­villea. The whole design, by Mr. Will Onions had been carried out by members of the Parish Vestry and the Sandys Boat Club. It was beautiful, artistic, and in impeccable taste.

As the Queen disembarked the Royal Standard was broken out on the wharf and the National Anthem played by the Somerset Brigade Band. Presenta­tions followed. The Royal couple signed a special book of the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club, then walked between ranks of cheering schoolchildren toward the waiting cars. Among the group lin­ing the road were patients and nurses from the Children’s Hospital on Ireland Island, including Bermuda “Coronation babies,” the Miller triplet . On seeing them the Queen cried to the Duke, “Oh-look at the babies!” spotting one of the 6-month -old tots bubbling at the mouth the Duke remarked with a grin, “That’s a healthy sign.” Her Majesty and the Duke both chatted with the matron of the Children’ Hos­pital, Mis Anne Dyson.

Entering their car the Royal party drove slowly along Mangrove Bay Road, passing the Armoury where a beautiful banner attracted the Duke’s attention. It had been made by hand by members of the I.O.D.E., of which the Queen is patron. The Royal procession circled the Royal Naval cricket field where crowds had assembled, and made a brief tour of the U.S Naval Station where Her Majesty and the Duke were greeted by the commandant, Capt. Allen Smith jr., and a guard of honour of U.S Marines under Capt. Jack Smith. Naval personnel, in dress blues flanked the route.

The party then drove through South­ampton and Warwick, circling the Port Royal and Empire playing fields where starry-eyed, flag-waving children had gathered to see their Queen, through Paget and past the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, where scores of patients, some in cots, some in wheelchairs, awaited on the lawns. The Royal car slowed down and the Queen waved to them gracefully. Passing under Paget’s beautiful arch of marigolds and blue-painted fern, the cars rounded the Foot of the Lane, un­der Pembroke’s gaily decorated arch, and along Front Street. Turning up Queen Street the Royal party returned to Government House.

THE DEPARTURE Before daybreak next morning the Royal party drove to the airport. More than a thousand people had gathered in the darkness for a final glimpse of their Queen. His Excellency and his family, with the dignitaries who had greeted the Royal couple on arrival, now bade farewell to the gracious young pair who had won all hearts with their great personal charm. Her Majesty and the Duke were piped on board BOAC’s  Canopus  by the Caledonian Society’s official piper, Mr. Thomas Aitchison. At 6 a.m. the silver and blue stratocruiser took off for Jamaica and the forever-to-be-remembered Royal visit was over.

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The Queen's visit to the Bermuda House of Assembly, 1953

• For more information, email the repository
• Advice on accessing these materials
• Cite this description
• Bookmark: http://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/data/gb115-rcs/y3070d
• This material is held at Royal Commonwealth Society Library
• Reference GB 115 RCS/Y3070D
• Dates of Creation 1953
• Name of Creator Bermuda News Bureau
• Language of Material English .
• Physical Description 4 item(s) 4 images

Scope and Content

A collection of loose prints measuring approximately 240 x 195 mm, with brief captions attached. This event took place during the Queen's world tour of the Commonwealth in 1953-4. Photographs by the Bermuda News Bureau.

Access Information

Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact [email protected]. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).

Includes index.

Other Finding Aids

A catalogue of the collection can be found on ArchiveSearch.

Alternative Form Available

This collection is available on microfiche: South America/Caribbean, fiche number 9.

Physical Characteristics and/or Technical Requirements

good condition.

Additional Information

This item level description was entered by MJC and SG using information from the original typescript catalogue.

Bermuda News Bureau

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Bermuda's distinguished visitors over the centuries

From 1609 to the present day.

By Keith Archibald Forbes (see About Us )

In the late 18th century, they included involuntary American prisoners and Royal Navy heroes of the American Revolutionary War and a little later,  George Washington's brother Lawrence who actually slept here and for many nights. In the early 19th century, they included many from the second British and American war of 1812 to 14 and then a number of American Loyalists, the most significant being New England born administrators, clerics and jurists who became Bermuda's Governors, ministers and Chief Justices.

British Royalty

Many members of Britain's Royal Family have come, initially as Princes in the 19th and early 20th centuries, when midshipmen in the Royal Navy. Royal visitors were:

• 1861. May 6. Prince Albert, Duke of Edinburgh, second son of Queen Victoria. He was on board HMS St. George. He was met by Governor Colonel H. St. George Ord and stayed six days. 
• 1880, (another) Prince Albert, 16, and Prince George, 15, sons of the-then Prince of Wales, later, Edward VII), arrived as midshipmen on HMS Bacchante. 
• 1883. January. Princess Louise Caroline Alberta (1848 to 1939), third daughter of Queen Victoria, wife of the Marquess of Lorne, Governor of Canada, made her first trip to Bermuda. She stayed for 10 weeks at Inglewood, Paget. She was the fourth daughter and sixth child of the nine born to Queen Victoria (1819 to 1901) and Francis Albert Augustus Charles Emmanuel, Duke of Saxony. Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1819 to 1861). It is not generally known that before she became a prolific and talented artist in paints, she was trained as a sculptor. She could also draw well. She was a beauty who abandoned life at court in favor of a Bohemian existence among artists and sculptors. It is said she gave birth to an illegitimate child, long considered to have been Henry Locock. He was born in December 1867 and, to cover up a scandal, was adopted by the son of Sir Charles Locock, Queen Victoria's gynecologist. She lived in a cottage in Surrey, England, and attracted much gossip after marrying in 1871 the Marquis of Lorne from Scotland, heir to and who later became the 9th Duke of Argyle, the premier Highland noble. She was the Marchioness of Lorne, later the Duchess of Argyle. She defied precedent by marrying, for the first time in many generations, outwith the cozy circles of European royalty. The unhappy side to her story is that her husband was a promiscuous homosexual. It was because of his Royal Appointment as Governor General of Canada - and may also have been because of his philandering - that she was able to visit Bermuda, not just once in 1883 but several times later. She made no secret of the fact that she much preferred the much warmer winter climate of Bermuda to that of Canada. She was Bermuda's first official tourist in 1883. The two big local Princess Hotels are named after her. The first was the Hamilton (or Pembroke) Princess built originally in the late 1880's but modernized since. The real Princess consented to the name because it was built from the publicity she brought Bermuda. In fact, she was present for the grand opening and formally named the hotel. Bermuda also owed her a great debt because more than anyone else she put Bermuda on the map of tourism with her fame and stature. She referred to Bermuda as the "Shangri La" of holiday destinations. With her appreciation of the military, Guard of Honor it provided for her wedding and the artwork she did for it, one of Scotland's most famous British Army units, The Argyllshire Regiment, was renamed to honor her. It carried her insignia for many years in its own - and served in Bermuda for two years under the old name in the late 1920s before it became The Argyllshire Highlanders and later, the Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders. She designed all the badges for her regiment, incorporating the boar of her husband's Clan Campbell and the cat of Sutherland, both regarded in the Scottish Highlands as symbols of superhuman power since pagan times. She linked the two badges with a label of three points from her own armorial bearings, the mark of her cadency as a junior member of the royal family. (Sadly, the battalion that went to Bermuda was credited in the official regimental records in Stirling Castle as having served in Jamaica instead. Despite our efforts since September 1998 and evidence from other resources as well that the unit was in Bermuda but never in Jamaica, we have not been successful in getting the unit to correct its records). The leading Canadian organization which owns a number of the watercolors she painted while she was in Bermuda (and lent them to Bermuda for a recent  exhibition) is the National Gallery of Canada.
• 1891. A little over a decade after his first visit, Prince George returned to Bermuda in command of the gunboat HMS Thrush. 
• 1912. Another Prince George, Marquess of Milford Haven, grandson of Queen Victoria, visited Bermuda briefly, as a lieutenant on HMS New Zealand. 
• 1913. Prince Albert Frederick Arthur George, then a naval cadet, visited Bermuda on HMS Cumberland. (He became King George VI in December 1936). 
• 1920. The first official Royal Visit to Bermuda was when Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later, briefly, King Edward VIII) concluded his tour of the British Empire. It was the first of three visits by him.
• 1924, 1925 and 1926, Lady Ramsay, the granddaughter of Queen Victoria, resided in Bermuda, at Soncy in Pembroke Parish. Her husband, Captain Alexander Ramsay, was stationed in Bermuda then. 
• 1931. Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, returned to Bermuda en route to Buenos Aires to open a British Industries exhibition. During his stay he played golf on the Mid Ocean course.
• 1935. April 3, the Duke of Kent, fourth son of King George V, and his wife, landed at Penno's Wharf, St. George's. They were met by Governor Sir Astley Cubitt. They were on the last stop of a honeymoon tour.
• 1940. Former King Edward VIII (who abdicated in December 1936 and was replaced by his brother, George VI), arrived in Bermuda with his divorced wife, the Duchess of Windsor. He was en route - via a Canadian Ladyboat - to the Bahamas, as Governor. He and his wife spent a week in Bermuda at Government House.
• 1953. November 23. The first British monarch to visit was Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II , only five months after her glittering Coronation in London, with the world-wide publicity it generated, Bermuda received its first visit - a 24-hour stay - from her. She is the surviving daughter of Britain's and Bermuda's last ever King-Emperor, George VI. Bermuda was her first stop on her Coronation tour of the Commonwealth. With her on her British Overseas Airways Corporation Constellation Canopus was her Greek-born Consort, His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. “Our proudest moment” was how the Island described Queen Elizabeth II’s first visit to Bermuda. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh spent little more than 24 hours in Bermuda as part of a 30,000-mile, six-month tour of the Commonwealth countries. Bermuda was the first stop. The Royals arrived on Canopus, a Boeing 377 or Stratocruiser; the same one that would bring Winston Churchill here a week later for the Bermuda Conference. The Queen had sat on the Throne for only six months, and the tour was a way of introducing her to her people. People on the Island rehearsed what they would do on the visit for weeks ahead of time. The couple had a whirlwind tour of Bermuda accompanied by Governor Alexander Hood and his wife. They visited St Peter’s Church, toured Kindley Air Force base and paraded through Hamilton before paying a visit to Parliament. The Queen later attended a state dinner that was noticeably absent of any black Bermudians. They left to fly on to Jamaica. When she left, it was to the sound of a bagpipe played by Tommy Aitchison, official piper to the Caledonian Society.
• 1955. Princess Margaret visited Bermuda.
• 1959. March. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, arrived by himself for a 2-day visit relating to the 350th anniversary.
• 1962. In January and again in August, Princess Margaret visited Bermuda.
• 1962. April. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, arrived by himself for a brief visit.
• 1964. In April, Her Royal Highness the Queen Mother visited Bermuda.
• 1964. August. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, arrived by himself for a brief visit.
• 1964. November. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, arrived by himself for a brief visit.
• 1965. November. Princess Margaret visited, to present the Colours to the newly-formed Bermuda Regiment.
• 1968. March. Princess Margaret visited Bermuda.
• 1970. March. Princess Margaret visited Bermuda.
• 1970. Prince Charles visited Bermuda, to open the 350th session of Parliament.
• 1973. Prince Charles arrived without pomp and ceremony as a Sub Lieutenant aboard HMS Minerva. He stayed for 4 days and attended a number of social functions but is main duties were on the warship.
• 1975. February 16. Second official visit to Bermuda, 22 years after her first, of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Duke of Edinburgh . She was greeted by Governor Sir Edwin Leather. One of the events she attended was the Speaker's Dinner (which this author also attended), hosted by the Hon. Sir Dudley Spurling. Bermuda was experiencing a massive General Strike at the time with workers from the docks, hotels, transportation and sanitation protesting over poor pay. While here, the Queen visited Gibbs Hill Lighthouse. On this visit, the wife of an air force base commander apparently disgraced herself by getting protocol mixed up, despite having practised it endlessly. Instead of shaking hands then taking three steps back and walking away, she shook hands but became flustered, walked away, then turned around, confused. Prince Phillip laughed at this.
• 1975. March 1. The Queen stopped briefly on the Island that same year, when her plane arrived for refuelling. While here, she drove around in a $150,000 Rolls-Royce borrowed from a Philadelphia businessman. The car was reputed to have once been owned by Czech communist party leader Alexander Dubcek.
• 1975. October. Princess Margaret visited Bermuda twice, once on a private visit a week earlier. (Her marriage to fashion photographer Tony Armstrong Jones, who became Lord Snowdon after he married her, was dissolved in 1978).
• 1976, July 3. Third visit to Bermuda of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Duke of Edinburgh. This time, it was purely a 4.5 hour stopover.
• 1978-1994. The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh had a few brief stopovers in Bermuda en route to other destinations.
• 1982. February 16,  His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, Prince Charles , eldest son of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and his bride, Diana, Princess of Wales, stopped off in Bermuda in their royal aircraft as part of their honeymoon trip to the Eleutheran Islands of the Bahamas. They were escorted around the original capital of St. George's by the Premier, the Hon. John W. Swan and the Acting Governor. The tour was arranged by the Special Branch of the Bermuda Police Force, after a special request from Prince Charles. Due to their high profile, the Royal visitors had several unobtrusive Special Branch members guarding them. To mark the Royal Wedding, the Bermuda Monetary Authority issued its seventh commemorative coin set, the "Royal Wedding, Prince of Wale and Lady Diana Spencer" issue, comprising a $250 piece in 690 pie fort, 790 proof and 217 uncirculated pieces; and a $1 coin in 16,296 proof and 65,004 copper-nickel pieces .
• 1984. Princess Margaret visited Bermuda again. 
• 1989. March. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, arrived by himself for a brief visit.
• 1990. The late Princess Margaret opened the new Cruise Ship Terminal on the North Arm of Dockyard, Ireland Island.
• 1991. March. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, arrived by himself for a brief visit.
• 1992. April 23. Prince Edward (Anthony Richard Louis), 24 year old youngest son of Queen Elizabeth and Duke of Edinburgh, finished his first visit to Bermuda with an appearance at the Botanical Gardens where he opened the 55th Agricultural Exhibition. his busy day also included local participants in the Duke of Edinburgh's Scheme and met related projects at Verdmont, St. Brendan's, Girl Guides Association and King Edward VII Memorial Hospital. He lunched with Premier Sir John Swan and Mayor of St. George's. Henry Hayward.
• 1994. March 8-10. The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh again visited Bermuda, on a major 2 day tour. During this visit she took time out to chat with children and accepted freesias from some of them. This was consistent with her other visits. Her press officer explained that she wasn’t just in Bermuda to see the dignitaries but to meet as many people as possible. Her itinerary included a visit to Tucker House in St George to see their new archaeological exhibit. At a special dinner at what was then the Southampton Princess, she surprised everyone by touching on the subject of race during a speech about how Bermuda had changed since she first visited. She said, “Black people have taken the lead in many areas of national life politics the judiciary and the police to name a few.” She also remarked on the surge of international business since her visit in 1977. She was in Bermuda for 44 hours . Her wrist was bandaged after a fall from a horse.
• 1999. October. Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal (formerly Princess Anne) made her first visit to Bermuda, lasting several days. 
• 2001. April. Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal (formerly Princess Anne) came again to formally award World Heritage status to the Town of St. George . 
• 2006. June 23. Her third visit of   Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal (formerly Princess Anne).
• 2009. November. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visited to commemorate Bermuda’s 400th anniversary . While here, the Royals did a little gardening. At Government House they helped plant two new palms alongside various other trees they had planted over the years including a Yew tree. On this occasion, they used the same shovel they had used to plant a tree back in 1953. They recalled how on their first visit to Bermuda, the Island was in the grips of the cedar blight and all the cedars were dying. The Royal Couple took a tour on one of Bermuda’s fast ferries. As the ferry passed through Hamilton Harbour they passed the Fairmont Hamilton where hundreds of Union Jacks waved. They disembarked in Dockyard where 102-year-old Hilda Smith played the piano for them.

American Presidents

In order of arrival.

Woodrow Wilson

It was at the urging of his doctor, partly to escape the pressures of academic politics but in reality from a 1906 injury which had left him temporarily without sight in his left eye. He had planned to travel with his wife Ellen but when their daughter became ill he traveled alone. 

It was during this first visit that he looked upon the use of motor cars in Bermuda with such particular disgust that he even drafted a petition to the Bermuda Legislature, saying: "It would be a fatal error to attract to Bermuda the extravagant and sporting set who have made so many other places entirely intolerable to persons of taste and cultivation." Certainly, his comments received a receptive audience. 

Then he met Mary Peck, a still married American woman - and had something entirely different to think about. He had an affair with her. When his vacation was over, he returned home to his wife and family but remained in contact with Mrs. Peck. In January 1908 he returned to Bermuda alone - and again met up with Mrs. Peck. Apparently, his conscience bothered him so much he confessed it to his wife. We do not know if she forgave him. 

When he returned for the third time in the winter of 1910, Mrs. Peck was not here. Perhaps he felt miserable. It may have been why he referred to Bermuda as the "friendless island." 

Maybe it was because of the death earlier in the year of his friend Mark Twain. Callers at the Bermuda home, Bay House, of the latter then included Wilson, who - when he could and Twain was also in the mood - liked a game of miniature golf. Wilson did not return to Bermuda. 

In 1911, he became Governor of New Jersey. In 1912 Mrs. Peck and her husband were divorced. In November of that same year, he was elected President of the United States. In 1914 Mrs. Wilson died from Bright's disease. Mr. Wilson later married Edith Bolling Galt.

Harry S. Truman, in 1946 and 1951

• First,  briefly, in August, 1946 . On August 22, he sailed in on his Presidential yacht Williamsburg . He stayed for a week, as part of an informal visit which did not involve any diplomatic talks. The most pressing items on his agenda were swimming, fishing, and touring the island in a special motor car.  He also made a special point of visiting the US NOB in Bermuda.
• Second, in 1961 - as a private citizen. The Honorable Harry S. Truman and Mrs. Truman came on a private visit, to spend time with their daughter Margaret. As Mrs. Clifton Daniel, she was with her husband and two sons, in residence "for the season" at the Mid Ocean Club, as the photo below shows.  At that time, at the City Hall in the City of Hamilton , he signed the Visitors Book as a "Retired Farmer."

Dwight D. Eisenhower

John f. kennedy.

Three times. First of his two secret visits in 1953, when he came, at the age of 36 and about to become a Senator and stayed by himself at Eventide (now Kennedy House, after the late President) on Burnt House Hill. It was then owned by his friend, wealthy American Oliver Newbury. He fell off his moped on that hill. He was invited by Mr. Brooks, a school friend of Mr. Kennedy who was also friendly with Mr. Newbury. Third visit was for the "Third Summit Conference" below.

Richard M. Nixon

Once. See "Fourth Summit Conference" below.

James Carter

Several times, but well after his Presidency. He came to visit his son who lives and works in Bermuda, and to give motivational speeches.

George Bush

He came, as President, for a visit with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Bill Clinton

Not while he was a 2-term President of the USA. Once, before he became President and again in 2009, 30 years later, on vacation to celebrate his 63rd birthday with his wife Hilary Clinton. They are believed to have conceived their daughter Chelsea at Horizons and Cottages in Paget Parish .

British Prime Ministers

I n order of arrival.

James Ramsay MacDonald 

But he never got there. He died while aboard the vessel. As Bermuda was a route stop on the way back to England, the ship brought MacDonald's body to Bermuda. 

Given his stature in life, Bermuda gave him a singular salute in death - an official funeral procession befitting a former Prime Minister. 

The body was brought to the Cathedral in Hamilton to lie in state overnight. The next day, during a solemn procession on Front Street, which attracted some 20,000 local spectators, one of the largest crowds ever to converge in the city, Royal Navy and Royal Marine bearers carried MacDonald's flag-draped coffin to the Royal Naval Dockyard tug Sandboy, for transport to HMS Apollo, waiting to receive it in the Great Sound. 

The naval vessel then steamed off to England.

Sir Winston Churchill

Widely regarded internationally as a superlative statesman, author, upholder of freedom and democracy. He died in 1965. In 2002 in Britain, a poll ranked him as the leading Briton of all time.  

Twice as Prime Minister.

• First, from January 14-16, 1941, when he came as Prime Minister,  after visiting President Roosevelt in Washington DC, to thank Bermudians, St. David's Islanders in particular, for helping the war effort and allow the creation from scratch of American military bases in Bermuda . (Later in 1941, August 9-12, Churchill and President Roosevelt met on a warship off the coast of Newfoundland and created the Atlantic Charter, the basis of the Allied war plan during World War 2).
• He was supposed to have met Roosevelt again in Bermuda in April 1944 to finalize preparations for Operation Overlord but it was cancelled owing to ill health of the President. 
• Second, for the "First Summit Conference" in December 1953. See below. One of the many stories about him during this visit was when he was reviewing, in Hamilton, the "Big 3" Armed Forces security guard. As he did so, two Luscome 8a aircraft, registration numbers VR-BAE and VR-BAS collided in Hamilton Harbour and crashed into the sea. VR-BAE was flown by 23 year-old Herbert Buswell, one of the aircrew (not a military pilot) of the local US Navy Base in Southampton Parish. He was seriously injured. VR-BAS was piloted by 18 year-old Bermudian Philip Masters. It was badly damaged, but Masters managed a safe landing before the aircraft sank and managed to get ashore. 
• Bermuda Summit 50th anniversary. Bermuda was visited by members of the international Churchill Societies and The Churchill Centre. Attending was their patron Dame Mary Soames, daughter of Sir Winston Churchill. She married Christopher Soames who, at the time of the Bermuda Summit which Churchill attended was Conservative Member of Parliament for Bedford and Churchill's Parliamentary Private Secretary. They were in conference at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess 6-9 November 2003. Members of Churchill Societies in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada  and USA were present.

Harold Macmillan

• First, for the "Second Summit Conference" shown below.
• Second, for the "Third Summit Conference" below.

Edward Heath

Once as Prime Minister, for the "Fourth Summit Conference" below.  Also subsequently, in a private capacity.

Margaret Thatcher

Twice. 

• First, as Prime Minister for a Conference with President George Bush. 

Margaret Thatcher in Bermuda with Premier Sir John Swan

• Second as Baroness Thatcher, another elevation after she was declared a Dame, she visited Bermuda on August 7, 2001.  She gave a major policy speech and was full of praise for Bermuda. Her speech was reported in detail.

Not officially, but unofficially, at least twice, most recently over Easter 2004, with his wife Cherie and family.

First summit conference December 4, 1953

Second summit conference 1957, third summit conference, december 21, 1961.

The measured but warm reply, as also reported worldwide, to that message from the elderly but distinguished Prime Minister Macmillan to the young, vibrant and enormously popular President Kennedy, was just as friendly: "Mr. President, it is a very great pleasure to welcome you here on British soil where, as you say, other meetings have taken place between Presidents and Prime Ministers engaged in the task which occupies us now - the strengthening of our friendship to preserve the peace of the world."

Still remembered today is the motorcade the two men, the Governor and their delegations took from the Civil Air Terminal to Government House, along the North Shore Road. At every junction, parked cars were spilling out their occupants to wave and take photographs. Near Flatts, children held up signs and offered broad smiles of welcome, including one group whose sign welcomed the President on behalf of Bermuda's American residents. At Government Gate leading up to the Governor's residence, a number of children were also assembled.

Over a crackling cedar log fire, the two world leaders discussed at Government House, among other things, the war which was then raging in the newly-liberated territory of the Belgian Congo, which brought forth the ill-fated African patriot Patrice Lumumba who had sought Western help in the civil war tearing his country apart; the crisis of the world escalated further by the erection of the Berlin Wall, completed just days before the conference; and testing of nuclear weaponry, with its acceptable and unacceptable sites and timings.

The two leaders made the decision to renew atmospheric nuclear tests, with a joint statement issued from Bermuda that read: " It is now necessary as a matter of prudent planning for the future, that pending the final decision preparations should be made for atmospheric testing to maintain the effectiveness of the deterrent."

In a lighter moment during the Summit Conference, President Kennedy initiated some variety into what had by them become an established custom for all world leaders and other very important people who had visited Government House. Because of his well-known and much-publicized bad back, the lingering after-effect of an injury incurred while on his much written about PT-109 boat war-time duty in the Pacific, and the less well-known fact that he was suffering from Addison's Disease, a thyroid condition, he elected to plant his tree - a canary date palm - less painfully than the customary use of a spade dug into earth. He used merely a pair of scissors to snip a ribbon on the tree that Government House gardeners planted for him. With his unfailing good manners employed so as not to put his distinguished American guest in a bad light, Mr. Macmillan elected to do the same thing with his tree.

Included in President Kennedy's entourage were his Press Secretary, Pierre Salinger, later a well-known private-sector broadcaster and author; The President's personal private secretary, Evelyn Lincoln; and Mr. Salinger's assistant Sue Vogelsinger, who wrote for United Press International an amusing story about Kennedy's Bermuda visit. As she recounted it, at Government House, Miss Lincoln put into Mr. Kennedy's hands the package she had helped to prepare as his gift to Governor Sir Julian Gascoigne. Mr. Kennedy was persistent in asking what it was and was told it was an autographed picture of the President in a silver frame. Mr. Kennedy laughed and asked if there wasn't anything better, as he personally would not want to be on the receiving end of such a mundane gift. At which point the Governor entered the room and Mr. Kennedy offered the gift, saying that if Sir Julian didn't care for the picture, he could always take it out and use the frame.

President John F. Kennedy meeting with Prime Minister Harold Macmillan in Bermuda, December  21-22, 1961. Top and bottom photos also show Governor Sir Julian Gascoigne. Photos kindly permitted for Bermuda Online (BOL) publication by J F. Kennedy Library 1995.

Fourth Summit Conference, December 17, 1971

British Prime Minister Edward Heath (in office 1970-1974, died July 2005) and members of his personal staff and official British delegation arrived in Bermuda by air at the Civil Air Terminal at Kindley Field for a pomp-and-circumstance welcome from the Governor, Government Leader, members of Cabinet and other officials. As with previous other Summits held in Bermuda, the Bermuda Regiment and Bermuda Reserve Constabulary had been embodied to provide additional security. The only hitch in all the careful work that had gone into the local planning for the conference occurred when, on Mr. Heath's arrival, a mistake by ground crew in moving the embarkation staircase to the wrong doorway of the aircraft left him stranded for a few minutes until the mistake was rectified. Mr. Heath was well-known at the time as an expert offshore yachtsman with his own sleek racing yacht. But due to the inclement weather that greeted him and remained for that weekend, he had to restrict his activities afloat to a trip on Lord Martonmere's luxurious motor yacht Romay , rather than at the helm of any Bermuda-rigged vessel in which he had expressed an interest in trying. 

On Monday, December 20, 1971, the arrival of Republican President of the USA Richard Nixon at Kindley Air Force Base in Bermuda was preceded by some 160 American press correspondents in a specially chartered jet. The President arrived aboard his Presidential plane, the Spirit of 76 for a pomp and circumstance reception by a delegation of senior Bermuda Government officials. They were led by Governor Lord Martonmere and Bermuda's Government Leader Sir Henry Tucker, with huge crowds of onlookers kept in check by the military. By lunch time that day, President Nixon and Prime Minister Heath had begun their talks. The conference began on a high note. It was announced by Mr. Nixon at Government House that the United States would lift its ten percent Customs Duty surcharge on foreign imports, including specifically those from Britain. The conference also took an unusual turn that day when Prime Minister Heath invited and Mr. Nixon accepted a dinner date for that same evening on board HMS Glamorgan , a Royal Navy guided missile destroyer then in Hamilton Harbour.

On board the British warship in Hamilton Harbour, President Nixon gave this salute to Bermuda. "I think we will all agree that we could not have selected a better place in which to meet." Earlier, he had remarked to Tourism Minister David Wilkinson (later Speaker of the House of Assembly) that he hoped his visit would give Bermuda some good publicity as a vacation resort. By the afternoon of the next day, Tuesday, December 21, the final communiqué was issued and the Fourth Summit Conference was cordially concluded.

Prime Minister Edward Heath, Lord Martonmere and President Nixon planting a tree at Government House, Bermuda

Other visits by a President and Prime Minister  

1990 . Prime Minister Dame Marjorie Thatcher of Britain also selected Bermuda for her discussions with American President George Bush Senior in the last few years of the twentieth century. It was not a Summit Conference but both leaders were greeted with pomp and circumstance. Once again, it was because of Bermuda's commercial, cultural, economic, historical and military ties with both Britain and the USA. It was the occasion on which the Bermuda Government allowed the American Secret Service to scan-search all locals who watched the event on Front Street, much to the annoyance of some Bermudians, residents and tourists. 

1991 . US President George Bush Sr. and British Prime Minister John Major conferred in Bermuda. Since then, President Bush Senior, while still in office, returned several times to play golf

2004 . Prime Minister Tony Mr. Blair came in April 2004 for Easter week in Bermuda. It was his first visit. He  was accompanied by his lawyer wife Cherie (Booth) - who has been to Bermuda twice before, on legal business - her mother Gale, sons Nicky, 18, Leo, four, and daughter Kathryn, 16. Friends of Nicky and Kathryn were also in Bermuda but oldest son Euan, a 20-year-old student, did not join the family.

2005 , former President George Bush Sr. visited Bermuda again, to play golf.

Other distinguished American, British and other visitors

American Presidents, British Prime Ministers and Royalty all have their special listings above. Others not in their category In art, business, humor, journalism, literature, music, running, sailing, singing and other fields have included the following, with their titles or roles applicable at the time of their visit.

• The Right. Hon. J. M. G. M (Tom) Adams , Prime Minister of Barbados at that time.
• Yolanda Adams , 2006, gospel singer
• Sir Ben Ainslie.   Played a pivotal role in Oracle Team USA's dramatic comeback to defend the coveted "Auld Mug" at the 34th America's Cup in San Francisco in 2013. He joined the crew as the team's tactician and helped turn an 8-1 deficit into a 9-8 triumph for the defender. The year before, the 37-year-old Briton captured a fourth-consecutive gold at the 2012 London Olympics. Sir Ben has won medals at five consecutive Olympics from 1996-2012, including gold at the past four. He is also a past Laser, Laser Radial and Finn world champion and multiple King Edward VII Gold Cup winner, having won back-to-back titles in the International One Design racing sloop in Bermuda in 2009 and 2010.
• Muhammed Ali , boxing legend, who died in June 2016, caused a sensation when he visited Bermuda.
• Dr. Joao Mota Amaral , President Regional Governor of the Azores
• Loni Anderson.
• Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations , a Ghanaian diplomat and Nobel Prize laureate, with his wife, Nane, visited the island briefly in 2005 and were hosted by Bermuda's Governor and Lady Vereker. 
• Bill Archer , US Con.
• Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson , in 2006, musical duo.
• Ramy Ashour , a three-times world squash champion, visited Bermuda in June 2016 as a main attraction in the Axis Squash Challenge and Professional Exhibition.
• Astronauts Shepherd, Grisssom, Glenn, Carpenter, Cooper, Slayton and Schirra , Mercury astronauts in 1960 and 1961, were frequent visitors to NASA Bermuda.
• Mrs. Barbara Austin , Mayor of Lyme Regis.
• James Baker, US Secretary of State, November 13, 1990.
• Lucille Ball
• Sally Barkow. Yachtswoman who came to Bermuda in January 2016 to compete in the M32 races.
• Buju Banton, reggae superstar. Visited Bermuda in August 2019. 
• The Rt. Hon Errol Barrow , PC, Prime Minister, Barbados
• Matthew Barzun , 2015 American ambassador to Britain. His latest trip to Bermuda, his sixth, was his first on official business. His area of responsibility has been reconfigured to cover US consulates in London, Edinburgh, Belfast and Bermuda . His visit coincided with the Swedish win in October 2015 of the America's  Cup Bermuda World Series.  He is a former US ambassador to Sweden. 
• Kathleen Battle, former opera diva, in late September 2006.
• Guy Bartholemew , Mini-garden guru (twice, once earlier, most recently in April 2006).
• Mr. & Mrs Gordon Baxter of W. A. Baxter & Sons, the Baxter family of Scotland, makers of soups, jams, etc visited Bermuda in September 1967. They were greeted at the Civil Air Terminal by the Manager of Pan Am and Cindy Farnsworth Toddings, Pan Am's Senior Special Services Representative. Gordon, his wife Ena and Ian met with Francis Vallis and Graham Lynn, both  of Vallis & Co. Ltd, Bermuda importers of Baxter goods. Earlier, in 1959, laden down with samples of jam and marmalade, they had first set off for the United States of America. Ena's cooking demonstrations were seen by millions of American TV viewers. They hosted mammoth Scottish charity banquets, complete with pipers and singers and an all-Baxter menu.

Baxter family in Bermuda. Photo kindly loaned this author by Cindy Farnsworth Toddings (shown second-left)

• Charles William Beebe , Sc.D, LL.D. To plumb the undersea world, Dr. Beebe chose Bermuda and its Nonsuch Island when no similar experiment had ever been attempted. He received international publicity after his successful experiments. His boat was Ready, a 60 years old former gunboat. Its bones rot still in St. George's Harbour.
• Bee Gees . Robert Stigwood had long managed the career of the Bee Gees, British-born, Australian-raised brothers Barry , Maurice and Robin Gibb. Known for their seraphic harmonies and solid songwriting, in the mid-Seventies the group were increasingly flavoring their music with R&B/disco inflections and danceable beats. So Stigwood commissioned the trio to provide songs for the soundtrack of his disco opus while they were visiting him in Bermuda that summer of 1976.
• Harry Belafonte
• Bee Gees. Wrote a song based on their Bermuda experience.
• Ted Bell. American author of spy novels. In all his books Bermuda's Dark and Stormy is the favourite cocktail of his undercover spy, Lord Alexander Hawke,  as well as his secret home. Bell, frequently visits Bermuda and drinks only Gosling’s Black Seal 151. 
• Peter Benchley , American author. His grandfather, Robert Benchley who died in the 1940s once spent vacations in Bermuda, possibly at Wistowe or perhaps elsehere in Flatts.  Mrs. Gertrude Benchley, Robert's wife, who spend additional time in Bermuda after her husband died, was the story-teller who inspired local kids with fantastic tales which, no doubt, fed the creative mind of Peter who went on to write his novels.
• Irving Berlin . This legendary American composer, accompanied by playwright collaborator Moss Hart, visited Bermuda during the 1933 Easter season to work on the songs and book of an upcoming Broadway revue eventually titled As Thousands Cheer. Among the local influences the partners absorbed and incorporated into their work during the Bermuda sojourn was the idea for a sketch to be staged around a newly written Berlin number. Both the skit and the song were called Easter Parade. They had as their inspiration the old Easter (or Floral) Parade, which thrived from the 1920s to the 1960s, then a massive must-see event for both residents and visitors. It left an imperishable worldwide legacy. This annual springtime procession of flower-bedecked floats, bands and equestrians was originally conceived as an elaborate and festive showcase for the Island’s lily crop. This enduring show tune has long since entered the Great American Songbook, spring’s counterpart to Berlin’s festive season classic White Christmas.
• Tanja Berlin , famed stitch designer (May 2006).
• Lyne Bessette . Olympic cyclist of Canada who won the January 2015 Women's Bermuda Marathon.
• Joanna Bilancieri. Competitive paddleboarder from Hawaii. Visited August 2015, didn’t expect Bermuda’s waters would provide such a challenge.
• Jacqueline Bissett , actress.
• Adam Bitchell. Runner from Wales who timed his kick to perfection to emerge victorious in one of the most “epic” finishes, in January 2016, to the KPMG Bermuda Invitational Front Street Mile.
• Honor Blackman , actress from one of the early James Bond movies.
• Prime Minister the Right Hon. Tony Blair of the United Kingdom and his wife, Cherie Booth Blair , a barrister and judge. Both were on a private visit.
• David Bloom . HSBC executive in Bermuda June 2015 for a conference.
• Michael Bloomberg . Billionaire. Owns a home in Bermuda and is a regular visitor.
• Willy Bogner , former Olympic skier, and wife Sonja head the Bogner clothing empire. They visited Bermuda in 2006.
• J. Max Bond , leading American architect and educator.
• Usain Bolt. Jamaican Olympian and world record holder, who visited Bermuda for the Carifta Games held years ago and again in June 2018. The superstar sprinter set his first world record in the Men’s Under-20 200m race at the 2004 Carifta Games. Bolt is an eight-time Olympic gold medallist.
• Victor Borge , Danish pianist.
• Mouritz Botha. Britain-based South African-born rugby player for England and Saracens. Visited Bermuda with Saracens May 2013. 
• Bishop of London, the Right  Reverend Dr Richard Chartres, was on the Island in November 2012 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the founding of St Peter’s Church. It was a ceremonial affair, attended by the Governor, Bermuda Regiment and clergy, with hundreds more watching. The church is possibly the oldest continually used Protestant church in the Western hemisphere, and believed to be the oldest surviving Anglican church outside of the British Isles.
• Agnes Boulton , then the wife of Eugene O'Neill and mother of Bermuda-born Oona O'Neill/Chaplin.
• David Bowie. Singer, rock star. Lived in Bermuda in 1997, later moved to USA and Germany. Mr Bowie — born David Jones — died in January 2016, aged 69, after an 18-month fight against cancer. During his nearly 50-year career, Mr Bowie produced more than 100 singles, including Let’s Dance, Space Oddity, Starman, Modern Love, Heroes, Under Pressure, Rebel, Rebel and Life on Mars, and acted in a number of films including Labyrinth and The Prestige. Despite his battle with cancer, he remained creatively active. His latest album, Blackstar, was released in January 2016 and a musical co-written by Mr Bowie and featuring his music, Lazarus, premiered in New York in 2015. Among the cast is Bermudian actor Nick Christopher. Mr Bowie moved to the Island shortly after he made the unusual move to issue bonds for his future earnings in 1997, with investors buying $55 million in “Bowie bonds”, backed by income from his back catalogue. He lived in the house Seaview on Cambridge Road, where he recorded much of his 1999 album Hours ... in a home studio. While the album drew mixed reviews, it made history by becoming the first album by a major artist to be officially sold as an internet download. Mr Bowie also recorded a cover of John Lennon’s song Mother while on the Island. The song was intended to go on a tribute album for Mr Lennon, who both co-wrote and sang on Mr Bowie’s hit song Fame. Asked about the Island, Mr Bowie once said: “We loved it in Bermuda during our time there. Quiet, respectful, a dreamscape atmosphere out in the part of the island where we lived. Nobody ever bothered us. But, of course, I have the best protective camouflage in the world. I am married to Iman. Do you think when we were walking along the street together in Hamilton anybody ever gave me a second glance? Do you think anybody even noticed me? Honestly?”
• Geoffrey Boycott , England cricketer.
• Richard Breeden , former Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman, December 2012.
• Amy Briggs . On June 23, 2006 she accompanied Her Royal Highness, the Princess Royal (formerly, Princess Anne, on the latter's third visit to Bermuda).
• Monica Brown. American singer, songwriter, producer, actress and entrepreneur who has had a series of Number 1 albums including ‘After the Storm’, ‘The Makings of Me’ and ‘Still Standing’ and has appeared in TV series such as ‘Living Single’, ‘Felicity’ and ‘American Dreams’. She has also received a Billboard Music Award, two BMI Pop Awards, one BET Award and a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for ‘The Boy Is Mine’. She performed in Bermuda in late August and early September 2018. 
• Dr. Lonnie Burch , founding director of the Smithsonian Institution African American Museum and Center for African American Culture.
• Carol Burnett. US Comedian and actress.
• Frances Hodgson Burnett, author of ‘The Secret Garden.’
• Dimitrios Buhalis.  Keynote speaker for a 2015 Bermuda conference, of Bournemouth University, an expert on how technology impacts tourism.
• Martijn Burger , visited Bermuda in late 2015 as academic director at the Erasmus Happiness Economics Research Organization (EHERO).
• King Carol II of Romania and his party which included his mistress Madame Magna (Elena) Lupescu, his Chamberlain Colonel Urdareanu. They arrived on the American Export Line's passenger and cargo ship Excambion on May 10, 1941 from Lisbon and were en route to Cuba after the former king, exiled from his homeland after a military coup, had been effectively deported from Portugal, then officially neutral but laced with German agents. The former monarch was known to be anti-German. Because of this he and party were not welcomed in the USA then also neutral but were treated well by his Bermudian and British hosts, allowed to stay at the Belmont Manor Hotel without publicity and were entertained by the Governor and British military commanders based in Bermuda.  
• Charlie Chaplin , his wife, Lady Oona Chaplin and his family. Oona was born in Bermuda, of American parents.
• Jordan Chipangama , of Zambia. Runner, he came atclose third in the 2016 January Bermuda Invitational Mile.
• Joe Clark , Canada's External Affairs Minister, November 13, 1990.
• Shirley Chisholm , the first black woman to be elected to the US Congress, during her visit to Bermuda soon after her election in 1975. She was a guest speaker of the-then Opposition Progressive Labour Party.
• Deepak Chopra . This New York Times best-selling author  was in Bermuda in April 2019 for a sold-out talk on health. The event saw Dr Chopra discuss his latest book, The Healing Self . Dr Chopra is a New York Times best-selling author with more than 85 books translated into more than 43 languages, including 22 New York Times bestsellers. He is the founder of The Chopra Foundation and co-founder of The Chopra Centre for Wellbeing. Dr Chopra is also a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, a member of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and a Clinical Professor in Medicine at the University of California, San Diego.
• Winston S. Churchill. British Prime Minister. Visited Bermuda January 1942.
• Diane Cilento (in 1959, who later became the wife of the film-star Sean Connery).
• John Cleese (in October 2002 for a motivational speech at a business conference)
• Samuel Clemens ( Mark Twain ), repeatedly.
• Charles Clover. British The Sunday Times investigative journalist who reported in the award-winning documentary The End of the Line . He visited the island at his own expense in May 2016 and met with government representatives about a possible partnership. As Executive chairman for the Blue Marine Foundation he is involved with a British marine conservation charity that could, if agreed, help the island close the net on illegal fishing in Bermuda waters.  
• Chuck Collins . An author who has long worked to tackle the issue of a growing wealth gap between the rich and the rest. He spoke at a Bermuda business audience in Hamilton in late November 2017. Mr Collins is from a privileged background, having been born into the family that started the Oscar Mayer meat empire, and gave away his $500,000 inheritance to charity at the age of 26. He is the author of Born on Third Base: A One Percenter Makes the Case for Tackling Inequality, Bringing Wealth Home, and Committing to the Common Good.
• Phil Collins , first in 1991.
• Command Performance
• Miranda Connell, 1959
• Dennis Conner, sailing legend, four-times America's Cup winner.

Sailing legend Dennis Connor, see above

• Bill Cosby and his wife.
• Sir Noel Coward , in the 1950s

Sir Noel Coward in Bermuda in the 1950s

• General Andre Cox, Salvation Army’s world leader was the Island in 2015 for a congress to mark the 150th anniversary of the organization, along with his wife Commissioner Silvia Cox, the world president of women’s ministries,
• Walter Cronkite , 1969 and 1993.
• Macaulay Culkin , June 1991
• Tony Curtis
• Ryan Cuskelly, then the world No 16 in squash, visited Bermuda in June 2016 to play professionally  at the Bermuda Squash Racquets Association.
• Johnny Dankworth
• James Darin
• Doris Day (for the movie "A Touch of Mink").
• F. W de Klerk, former South Africa President, who visited in 1997
• Robert DeNero. US film actor
• Anthony and Marsha Devaux ,1980. Devaux is a writer and political  commentator. He and is wife live in Colorado.
• Joseph Devaux. St. Lucia-born businessman and former chairman of the St. Lucia Tourist Board.
• Gabriela Dias.  The Brazilian-born actress and model has made a name for herself as a businesswoman and fashion designer and visited Bermuda in 2016 to get married.
• Phyllis Diller. Well-known American comedienne.
• 5th Dimension .
• Robert Dilenschneider. Frequent visitor to Bermuda, author.
• Walt Disney , 1968
• Senator Christopher Dodd
• Chris Doleman. NFL Hall of Famer who visited Bermuda in April 2016 for a golf classic.
• Lonnie Donegan . British singer.
• Commander Dilip Donde, Indian Navy. Cdr Donde was the first Indian sailor to carry out a solo circumnavigation in 2010, covering 21,600 nautical miles in 276 days as part of a Navy project. He joined the Indian Navy when he was in his early twenties and is now based in Goa, India. He was in Bermuda in June 2015.
• William  J. "Wild Bill" Donovan - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_J._Donovan - special advisor to President Roosevelt and soon to be appointed the first director of the Office of Strategic Services, later the Central Intelligence Agency. The USA was not yet at war but he was sent to Bermuda to see William Stevenson of the UK's wartime censors based in Bermuda since July 1940. Among other things, he colluded with Stevenson in the opening up and censorship of mail bound to and from Europe and the USA. He did not come in his own name but was disguised as a "Donald Williams. "

William Donovan

• Dr. Denzil Douglas , Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis for 15 years. Was in Bermuda May 20-25, 2010

Dr. Denzil Douglas

• Michael Douglas (son of Bermudian Diana Dill and American actor Kirk Douglas), he and his family are major shareholders in their family-owned local hotel, with his wife, the British-born American actress Catherine Zeta-Jones and for several years lived in Bermuda.
• Richard Dreyfuss , in 2007. Oscar winner.
• Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Arrived August 1940 and stayed at Government House before going down to the Bahamas where the Duke. formerly King Edward VIII before he abdicated and was replaced by his brother, became the Governor for several years. 
• Duchess of Gloucester.  Arrived in Bermuda on October 31, 2015 to take part in the weekend events marking the Royal Bermuda Regiment’s 50th anniversary . The Duchess, whose husband, Prince Richard of Gloucester, is the Queen’s first cousin, has been the Colonel-in-Chief of the Regiment since 2006 and was last in Bermuda five years ago.
• Duchess of York.
• Jason Dufner , golfer 2013.
• Michael Clarke Duncan , in March 2005,  invited by the Bermuda International Film Festival (BIFF), to sit on its jury.
• James Edwards . He starred in the1949 movie about racial prejudice in the U.S. army, Home of the Brave) He arrived in Bermuda in 1950 to showcase the colony to American blacks.
• Albert Einstein . Visited Bermuda in the 1930s.
• Ben Ensall . Came to Bermuda in 2011 for a modeling assignment.
• Dr. Milton Eisenhower , 1959.
• Dr Tony Evans. American Author and pastor , the first African-American to graduate from Dallas Theological Seminary with a doctoral degree, He is the author of several Christian books including Kingdom Agenda: What a Way to Live!, Kingdom Man: Every Man’s Destiny, Every Woman’s Dream and Kingdom Woman. He is also the pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas and the voice of the radio programme and US ministry “The Urban Alternative”. Visited Bermuda in January 2016.
• Nigel Farage . Former leader of the UK Independence Party and prime mover behind the campaign for Britain to leave the European Union. Was in Bermuda in July 2018.
• J osé María Figueres. Founder of Ocean Unite and former president of Costa Rica.
• Bobbie Fischer , 1972.
• Carrie Fisher , in 2007. Actress and former Bermuda International Film Festival judge, who died on December 27, 2016 was the daughter of Debbie Reynolds when she was married to Eddie Fisher. She rose to stardom for her role as Princess Leia in the Star Wars film series.. In addition to her leading role in the Star Wars series, Ms Fisher appeared in hit films including The Blues Brothers and When Harry Met Sally . She transitioned her success in film to writing, penning eight books and memoirs, one of which she later adapted into her one-woman show Wishful Drinking . In 2007, Ms Fisher joined friend and fellow actor Richard Dreyfuss at the Bermuda International Film Festival. She also spoke at BIFF Talk Back, discussing her career and personal challenges. 
• Ella Fitzgerald.

Ella Fitzgerald vacationing in Bermuda

• F. Scott Fitzgerald . Put the finishing touches to his masterpiece “Tender Is The Night” in Bermuda while vacationing here. His wife Zelda, the archetypal flapper and an accomplished painter, novelist and dancer in her own right, also created artwork and writing of lasting value on the Island (she provided a vivid word picture of 1933 St. George’s in her diary: “Bougainvillea cascaded down the tree trunks and long stairs passed by deep mysteries taking place behind native windows. Cats slept along the balustrade and lovely children grew.”)
• Ian Fleming.
• Joe Flower. Healthcare and technology futurist , keynote speaker  at the June 2016 Bermuda Captive Insurance Conference.
• Eugene Fodor . Violinist. Stayed at Sonesta Beach Resort. 
• Gerald Ford. Visited Bermuda in both January and June 1983 for events/meetings. Mrs. Ford traveled with him for the June 16-21st trip to attend the Shearson/American Express Chairman's Council Meeting. 
• Joan Fontaine , 1968.
• Aretha Franklin . Multiple Grammy winner, who died at her home in Detroit aged 76 on August 15, 2018 was still a little-known figure in 1965 when she appeared in Bermuda. Drummer Lance Furbert opened a show for her with the other members of the Bermudian act, the Arpeggios.
• Wayne Frederick, president of Howard University in Washington, visited Bermuda in November 2019 as the keynote speaker at a Bermuda Progressive Labour Party celebration.  The Trinidadian-born academic started at Howard aged 16 and earned science and medical degrees by 22.
• John Freeman , 1969, then British Ambassador to USA.
• Morgan Freeman , Oscar-winning actor and veteran yachtsman who has sailed sailed his 43-foot Shannon ketch around the Caribbean and north to Bermuda.
• Aaron Fresh .
• Childs Frick. Visited in the 1930s.
• Arthur Frommer , travel author.
• David Frost.  1972. A luminary of British broadcast journalism who once chose Bermuda to fete some of the most eminent celebrities of the day. His impromptu January 1972 Bermuda bash garnered widespread coverage for the Island, from The New York Times to ‘Life’ magazine. The television star was simultaneously hosting talk shows in the UK and US when he chartered a 747 to bring 60 of his closest friends to Bermuda. Guests flown in from New York ranged in celebrity from US Senator Jacob Javits to world-famed economist John Kenneth Galbraith — and actor Richard Roundtree, star of the just-released film “Shaft.” Others included US author James Michener, chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer, journalist Barbara Walters, and film producer Joseph Levine. After treating his guests to a meal at the old Castle Harbour Hotel, followed by a chartered cruise of local waters, Sir David quipped to the British press that he thought “it would be jolly to start the New Year by taking some friends to lunch in Bermuda”. The veteran TV journalist specialised in interviews with leading figures, including eight UK prime ministers and seven US presidents. His most widely known claim to fame was his 1977 series of interviews with disgraced US president Richard Nixon. He died in 2013 of a suspected heart attack aboard the cruise ship Queen Elizabeth, where he had been booked as a speaker.
• John Fugelsang. American comedian. Visited Bermuda in August 2016 for an American radio show from New York. 
• Sir Peter Gadsden , Lord Mayor of London, and Lady Gadsden.
• John Kenneth Galbraith , 1972.
• Eunice Gayson , actress. When in Bermuda to make a movie, she had her shorts measured by a policemen to make sure they were not too short.
• Lewis Gilbert, film director (for Admirable Crichton filmed in Bermuda in 1959).
• Christopher Gillespie , UK barrister, a criminal lawyer at the London firm 2 Hare Court, who in early 2014 was paid $40,000 by the Bermuda Government for his help in drafting gaming (gambling) legislation.
• Danny Glover , actor (several visits).
• Lucas Glover, golfer.
• Lord Goldsmith . He served as Attorney General of the British Government under former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. He visited Bermuda in 2006 and was hosted by Bermuda's Governor.

Lord Goldsmith (left) in Bermuda April 2006 with Governor

• Barry M. Goldwater, then a US senator, stayed at the Hamilton Princess for an American Bankers Association Convention.
• Bruce Gordon
• Cary Grant (for the movie "A Touch of Mink).
• Stedman Graham. Best-selling author, businessman and educator. CEO of S Graham and Associates, the long-term partner of Oprah Winfrey and has visited Bermuda about ten times over the past 12 years. Mr Graham’s talks in the United States and around the world have a strong focus on identity and how the key to success is leadership capability. With few people of colour holding top positions in the reinsurance industry in Bermuda, Mr Graham’s talk in late August 2017struck a chord with many. 
• Peter Graves , 1959
• Lorne Greene .
• Lance Gross.
• Peter Guber.  Producer of the Bermuda-made film "The Deep."
• Sir Alec Guinness (as a World War 2 tank landing craft captain).

Sir Alec Guinness

• Nicky Gurret. Floral artist and architect. She won a bronze for Bermuda at the 2014 Chelsea Flower Show.

Nicky Gurret at the Chelsea Flower Show

• Stelios Haji-Ioannou , in April 2006. Owner of the ground-breaking EasyJet airline company, which is generally credited with bringing low price airfares across Europe through its own services and those of imitators.
• Dorothy Hamill. Visited in June 1979
• Lionel Hampton .
• Lord Michael Hastings . Visited Bermuda in May 2016 as global head of corporate citizenship at professional services firm KPMG, to speak after he highlighted the UN’s sustainable development goals, aimed at ending poverty and hunger and promoting peaceful and fairer societies. Lord Hastings, listed as one of the most influential black Britons and sixth on this year’s list of top black British business leaders, said: “I would encourage it — a minimum wage sets a benchmark standard for basic dignity. It doesn’t turn the poor into the wealthy, it’s not about vast transfers of money. It’s giving them latitude. The difference between seven dollars an hour and ten dollars an hour is life-changing.” Lord Hastings said that poverty affected about 16 per cent of the population in the US and 10 per cent of the population in the UK. “Bermuda is a small community — 60,000. I don’t know what the numbers would be which are below an acceptable level. But it would surprise me if Bermuda didn’t have an equal number — 4,000 out of the 60,000. In a community of 60,000, 4,000 people is a lot of people to have out of the corner of opportunity. Who knows, there could be an entrepreneur lurking there who could get an education elsewhere and transform the whole economy. A living wage is not transfer of wealth from the rich to the poor, it’s an investment every community needs to empower dignity and the poor will benefit — it will raise their opportunity and raise their potential.” Lord Hastings, who has also held senior posts with the World Economic Forum and is vice-president of the UN’s Children and Education Fund, discussed KPMG’s commitment to sustainable development at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute and told the audience that the developed world needed to work harder to create fairer and more prosperous societies in poorer countries. 
• Mercy Haystead , 1959
• Lena Headey , Bermuda-born English actress.
• Padraig Harrington , golfer 2013.
• Jimi Hendrix , legendry guitarist, who toured Bermuda in spring 1964 with the Isley Brothers.
• Charlton Heston. In his first visit, he performed in Born Yesterday. In his next appearance, he played the lead role in Bell, Book & Candle, directed in Bermuda by Burgess Meredith.
• Theresa Hightower , singer
• Alfred Hitchcock , 1960s.
• Winslow Homer , artist, several times. 
• George Hook . The guest speaker at the 2016 St Patrick's Day Dinner in Bermuda. A broadcaster and journalist from Ireland, who at the event covered the history of Ireland from the 1916 uprising in Dublin, the partition of the country in 1922 into Saorstat Eireann — the Irish Free State — and Northern Ireland, which remains part of the UK, up to Ireland’s modern status as a republic.
• Bermuda is so British, the whole island is shaped like a stiff upper lip. 
• It's easy to tell Bermuda's British. We had to land on the left side of the airstrip."
• The Admiral was on his way to Virginia but took one look at these isles and said, "To hell with colonizing America. Pour me another rum swizzle.
• Oh yes, it's very traditional here. Even the lamb chops wear Bermuda shorts. I borrowed mine from a cop.
• You can get a $25 ticket for speeding and another $10 fine for laughing at officers' nobbly knees. And they don't carry guns. It's hard to hold up Bermuda shorts and have a gun attached to them.
• I know a fellow who couldn't get away to Bermuda, so he stayed at home and tipped every person he saw. They're really into tipping at my hotel. I ordered a deck of cards and they sent them up to my room one card at a time.
• Bermuda's surrounded by cannons. I haven't seen a place fortified like this since my opening night at Carnegie Hall. There are hundreds of cannons all around this island. It's impressive, but couldn't you come up with a better way to make sure the tourists tip?
• Every restaurant here has a smoking and non-smoking section. The smoking section's for people who are eating the Portuguese red bean soup. That's the soup that won't just put hair on your chest, it'll give it a permanent. I had too much of it the other day, belched in bed and set off the sprinkler system.
• The speed limit is supposed to be just over 20 mph. Unless you've had a bowl of Portuguese red bean soup. Then you're in a hurry, it's an emergency.
• They serve a very popular seafood chowder made out of fish heads, but I get nervous eating food that winks at me.
• You're only allowed one car per family here. In Southern California, you're only allowed one car in each color.
• Sally Ann Howes , British actress, 1959.
• Karel Van Hulle , architect of the European Union’s Solvency II enhanced regulatory regime for insurers, who visited Bermuda in December 2012. 
• Herve Humler. C o-founded the Ritz-Carlton Company in 1983 and serves as its president and chief operating officer, as well as being president of Bulgari Hotels and Resorts. He is responsible for leading the brand’s global growth, which includes the $400 million Ritz-Carlton Reserve resort being built at Morgan’s Point, as well as presiding over 92 Ritz-Carlton properties. He visited Bermuda in June 2016.
• Engelbert Humperdink .

Engelbert Humperdink in Bermuda

• Kim Hunter , star of the movie "Bermuda Affair" filmed in Bermuda in 1956.
• Martita Hunt . 1959
• Isley Brothers , 1964
• Burl Ives . 1978.
• Dr. Edward “Donnell” Ivy. Visited Bermuda in September 2015 to talk to the Bermuda Sickle Cell Association.   
• Anne Jackson. Died April 14, 2016 at the age of 90. Acclaimed Broadway and film actress Anne Jackson, who spent six weeks in Bermuda in 1976 working alongside husband Eli Wallach, Jaqueline Bisset and Robert Shaw on the treasure hunting thriller The Deep .  According to The New York Times , Ms Jackson and Mr Wallach appeared together 13 times on Broadway, seven times off Broadway, and occasionally in movies and on television, where they did most of their work, both together and apart, in the later years of their careers.
• Reverend Jesse Jackson
• Michael Jackson , June 1991

Michael Jackson leaving Bermuda by private jet

• Senator Jacob Javits and Marian Javits
• Wyclef Jean.  Performs in Bermuda as part of the America’s Cup festivities. The three-time Grammy Award-winning entertainer, was on the main stage at the America’s Cup Village in Dockyard, on Saturday, May 27, 2017. Wyclef Jean first received fame as a member of the acclaimed New Jersey hip hop group the Fugees, the trio that also included Lauryn Hill and Pras. Jean is Pras’s cousin and a fellow Haitian immigrant to the United States.
• William Jefferson , US Con.
• Cullen Jones . US Olympic swimmer, in Bermuda in March 2016.
• Catherine Zeta-Jones , British-born American TV and film actress, star of the Darling Buds of May, etc. (husband is Michael Douglas).
• Heather Kampf. In January 2016 she stormed to a fourth consecutive Bermuda Invitational Front Street mile title in the elite women’s race .
• Yousuf Karsh , an Armenian-born Canadian photographer whose work is featured in some of the world’s most prestigious galleries.  Karsh was born in Armenia in 1908 but took refuge in Canada 16 years later after his family fled Turkish genocide in their homeland. He achieved international acclaim for the 1941 image of Churchill — which appeared on the cover of Life magazine — and went on to photograph scores of dignitaries and celebrities including the Queen and Martin Luther King Jr. Karsh came to Bermuda in 1948 with his wife, Estrellita. 
• Martin Kaymer, German professional golfer, 2014 Bermuda Grand Slam winner.
• Senator Edward Kennedy , 1967
• Senator John Kerry
• Robert Kennedy
• Judge John Keogh , 1971.
• Richard Kessio. Visiting Bermuda Marathon Winner in 2013 and 2014.
• King Khalid of Saudi Arabia.
• Kwame M. Kilpatrick. 2006 visitor. Youngest mayor in the history of Detroit, and then the youngest current mayor of any major US city. His mother is US Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick. He was later reported as having also made a 2007 visit.
• Chaka Khan.
• Rudyard Kipling. Famous British author, a 1930 visitor.
• Lori King. 2016. June 18. From New York, she swam around Bermuda for 21 hours straight. With a support crew of 11 people by her side, Mrs King, 40, took to the water at Elbow Beach at noon to begin the longest, most challenging swim of her life. Her inspiration, she said, was resident Sean O’Connell, who was the first and only person to have completed the swim 40 years ago. “I read his story and I had been thinking about doing a 24-hour swim,” she said. “I’m from New York and I had been to Bermuda for the Round the Sound event for the past six or seven years and it holds a special place in my heart. So, I knew when I thought about doing a swim and reading that one other person had done it and it was possible, that this was the place. It’s special to me, I love the people and the water.” The swim was planned and certified through the Bermuda Open Water Swimming Association, with president Nick Strong acting as event co-ordinator and first observer. Devon Clifford, on-site coach and support swimmer, described some of the challenges they faced. “Lori swam counterclockwise around the island and throughout the swim she missed Portuguese man o’ wars, there were two to three foot swells coming into the boat that she was swimming through. Going around Fort St Catherine, starting off in the north shore of the island, it was very rough.” They also dealt with multiple kayak rescues and their boat hitting a reef because of the high winds. Mrs King was overwhelmed with emotion as she thanked her crew and the residents who had supported her in becoming the first woman to ever complete the swim. “I am just totally indebted to these people, I don’t even know how to repay them.”
• Dr. Henry Kissinger.
• Sir Robin Knox-Johnston. An English sailor and the first man to single-handedly circumnavigate the globe non-stop. He set sail from Falmouth in England on June 14, 1968, and completed his voyage on April 22, 1969. He was knighted in 1995 and in 2006 he became the oldest yachtsman to complete a round-the-world solo voyage in the VELUX 5 Oceans Race. Last visited Bermuda in June 2015.
• Dr. Martin Luther King III - son of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King - in September 2006 to preached a message of unity and love at the 25th annual Labour Day Banquet.
• Coretta Scott-King . Late wife of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King. She visited Bermuda in May, 1997.
• Dr Bernice King. Daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Visited in 2015.
• Rudyard Kipling. Used Bermuda for some of his stories.
• Martin Kymer , golfer, 2014.
• Michael Landon
• Brian Lara. West Indies cricketer, frequent visitor.
• Aerin Lauder. Beauty and fashion entrepreneur, a granddaughter of Estée Lauder . Her AERIN hotel amenity line was launched when Bermuda's luxury Rosewood hotel reopened after undergoing $25 million of renovations in 2018. Ms Lauder is the founder of AERIN, a luxury lifestyle brand that offers curated collections of beauty, fashion and home decor products. She honeymooned in Bermuda in 1996 at the urging for her grandmother, who cofounded cosmetics company Estée Lauder. Ms Lauder has made return visits to the island 
• John Lennon , Beatle, June 1980. He sailed here. He was assassinated in New York a few months after leaving Bermuda. His son Sean was also here. It is said he titled his last album ‘Double Fantasy’ after seeing a ‘Double Fantasy’ freesia flower while touring the Botanical Gardens in Paget. Double flower blooms are often extra frilly and have more petals than a single flower. The album cover has a picture of him and his wife, Yoko Ono, on the cover. But it was the wrong time of the year for the Bermuda freesia. 
• Lord Heseltine , former UK Cabinet Defence Minister (visited in early 1980s and November 2003).
• Bruce Levenbrook , CEO of The Original Bagel, who sampled his own fare at an October 2015 food Butterfield & Vallis in Bermuda trade show.
• Ryan Lindley. NFL star who visited Bermuda in 2016 for a golf classic.
• Jessica Lynn, country music artist. Was a featured act in the 2017 Bermuda Festival of Performing Arts. Her grandparents honeymooned here some 59 years ago and travelled back for the first time since to see their granddaughter perform.
• Gerald Harper , 1959.
• Michael Jackson
• Tom Jones , 1970/71
• Senator Edward Kennedy , who attended a conference of British and US legislators at Castle Harbour in 1967 and made many subsequent trips.
• Lil’ Kim. Rap star. Shared a July 2019 break in Bermuda with more than 2.5 million followers. The platinum-rated rapper posted a video of her time on the island to her Instagram account at @lilkimthequeenbee She was seen relaxing on a lounger at what appears to be the Hamilton Princess & Beach Club before the cameras pans out to a view of the harbour. The video was watched by almost 170,000 people by yesterday afternoon. Lil’ Kim, who headlined Island Soul Fest on Saturday, announced her arrival to the island last Tuesday. She said on her Facebook page: “Whats up Bermuda? It’s your girl Lil Kim, and I’m going to be on the island July 27th for the Island Soul Festival which was held in Southampton, make sure y’all pull up on us, it’s going to be lit.” A spokeswoman for the hotel said it could not comment on guests “for privacy reasons”. Lil’ Kim’s Facebook page is liked by two million users, and the video received 996 likes, 93 comments and 66 shares.
• Ben E. King
• Kingston Trio
• Beyoncé Knowles , whose Bermuda presence included a visit at the 2008 Music Festival at the Bermuda National Stadium.
• Frankie Laine
• Munro Leaf. Author, visited 1939.
• Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey , Ghanaian Minister of Tourism and President of the Africa Travel Association, in 2006.
• Cindi Lauper .
• Joseph Levine, 1972.
• Annie Lush. Yachtswoman who came to Bermuda in January 2016 to compete in the M32 races.
• Dame Perlette Louisy , Governor General of St. Lucia.
• Miles Malleson, 1959.
• Manhattan Transfer.
• Patrick Manning, former Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago . Mr Manning led the People’s National Movement for 24 years and had two stints as the country’s Prime Minister — from 1991 to 1995 and from 2001 to 2010. He was the keynote speaker in Bermuda at the PLP Annual Banquet in the 1990s. He died in July 2016.
• John F. Mariani, Jr. in 2006 as a guest of Ross Perot.
• Nancy Marchant (who later appeared as the imperious but kindly role of Mrs. Pynchon, the newspaper. publisher in the long-running TV series Lou Grant).
• Willard Marriott, Jr. and Mrs. Marriott.
• Mario. R&B singer from Baltimore, visited and performed in Bermuda in 2005. Wrote the song "Bermuda."
• Winton Marsalis
• Harpo Marx.
• Frederick Van Wyck Mason. Author. Wrote a unique book about Bermuda's history.
• John McCain , Arizona Senator (August 2007)
• Rory McIlroy , golfer, 2014.
• Leigh McCloskey , 1978.
• Christopher McDougall, author of 'Born to Run', September 2010.
• Maureen McGovern .

Maureen McGovern in Bermuda

• Rory McIlroy , golfer.
• Thabo Mbeki, South African President, who came to Bermuda in 1989 for secret talks with opponents of South Africa's government at the time. 
• Burgess Meredith , American actor
• Gary Merrill, a star of the movie "Bermuda Affair" filmed in Bermuda in 1956.
• George de Mestral , inventor of Velcro.
• Benjamin Meto . Kenyan runner who won the January 2015 Bermuda Marathon at his first attempt.
• Rebecca Middleton. On July 3, 1996 this 17 year old visitor was repeatedly raped, sodomized and racially murdered in Bermuda and her Bermuda-based killers received only light sentences in a mockery of justice, to international outrage.
• David Miliband , MP, then UK's Foreign Secretary, November 2009.
• James Michener , author, 1972. 
• Arthur Mitchell. Famous African-American ballet dancer. He and his troupe visited Bermuda in 1970.
• John Mitchell, 1969, then US Attorney General.
• Thomas Moore , Irish poet who earlier spent three months in Bermuda.
• Kenneth More , British actor, who starred in the Admirable Crichton filmed partly in Bermuda in the 1950s.
• Ralph Nader. Stayed at Castle Harbour Hotel. 
• Jim Nicholson, US Cabinet Secretary, as a 2006 guest of Ross Perot.
• David Niven, actor. 1910-1994). Oscar-winning actor whose pencil moustache, debonair manner and easy charm made him the screen embodiment of British urbanity for more than 40 years, took a circuitous route to Hollywood stardom — one which brought him through Bermuda in 1934. After leaving the British military in 1933, he departed the UK for Canada, and subsequently travelled to New York where he found a job as a liquor salesman. A subsequent venture into pony racing failed spectacularly and a near penniless Niven was invited to spend time in Bermuda in 1934 with his American friends Maurice (Lefty) Flynn and his wife Nora Langhorne Phillips. As he wrote in his best-selling 1971 memoir The Moon’s A Balloon, Niven arrived in a Bermuda during the island’s golden era. Staying with the Flynns at a cottage they had rented on Devonshire Bay, Niven said Bermuda restored his spirits — if not his bank account — after the disastrous collapse of his rodeo business.
• Nick Nolte, actor
• Queen Noor of Jordan, American by birth, an avid campaigner for global environmental issues, speaker and guest of honour at The Bermuda Biological Station for Research (BBSR) fundraising gala on March 10, 2006.
• Georgia O'Keefe , artist. 
• Eugene O'Neill. His daughter Oona - later the wife of Charlie Chaplin - see below - was born in Bermuda to himself and his then-wife Agnes Boulton.
• Oona O'Neill, later, Chaplin. Born 14 May 1925 at Spithead, Warwick Parish, Bermuda, later went to the USA with her by-then-divorced mother. She and Charlie Chaplin later had actress Geraldine Chaplin (b.1944), actor Michael Chaplin (b.1946), Josephine Chaplin (b.1949), Victoria Chaplin (b.1951), Eugene Chaplin (b.1953), Jane Chaplin (b.1957), Annette Chaplin (b.1959) and Christopher Chaplin (b.1962).
• Jack Palance . One of his movies was made in Bermuda

Jack Palance in Bermuda

• Betsy Palmer
• David Palmer , 2003 World Champion Squash player, Australian, has a home here.
• Cecil Parker , British actor, 1959.
• Ewan Partridge, visited 2014 as co-author of the 2014 book "Wings Over Bermuda"  with fellow-author Tom Singfield.
• Rt. Hon. P. J. Patterson , PC. QC, Prime Minister of Jamaica.
• Pope Paul VI. Made a brief visit to the island in 1968.
• William Payne . One of those who in April 1990 met at the Lantana Colony Club in Somerset, Bermuda, the enemies of apartheid, as well as its diehard supporters. It was a historic gathering. Payne was then a member of the New Jersey General Assembly. He had come from prominence in the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People to find himself sitting next to a staunch, “rabidly prejudiced” believer in South Africa’s racist regime. Mr Payne arrived with United States delegates for secret talks in Bermuda organized by the Aspen Institute on the fate of the crumbling apartheid regime. It was the second round of covert discussions at the Lantana Colony Club, following on from a forum in March of 1989. Mr Payne attended with his brother, the late Congressman Donald Payne. The Aspen Institute brought members of Congress and Senators to discuss issues of national importance, away from their offices and across party lines. They met with leaders from South Africa, from both sides, under the radar.” A media blackout protected both meetings between members of South Africa’s National Party and the African National Congress. At that time in 1990, a ban on the ANC had only just been lifted with the freeing of Nelson Mandela, the jailed revolutionary and opponent of apartheid (who would become president of South Africa in 1994). The Aspen Institute identified those people in South Africa who were either fighting apartheid or were part of it, and they brought those adversaries together. They had discussions with the fighters for freedom and the Afrikaners who were defenders of apartheid. Bringing ideological enemies into the same room without courting disaster was a testament to the power of Dick Clark, the director and moderator from the Aspen Institute — a persuasively soft-spoken man. Having joined the NAACP at the age of 18 and becoming the chairman of its Youth Work Committee, Mr Payne was personally acquainted not only with Dr King, but Malcolm X and Medgar Evers, the Mississippi civil rights activist who was assassinated in 1963. Mr Payne recalled speaking with Mr Evers over the rumours that he was being targeted by white supremacists, only to be told that the activist was determined to go back and make Mississippi “safer for his children”. He was shot dead in the driveway of his home. “One thing that kept me going was that I personally know people that gave their lives,” Mr Payne said. Delegates spent four nights at Lantana, changing seats each night. “People got to know each other better, even that guy who was such a crude individual — I’m not sure his attitude changed, but I can’t imagine it was an easy task to convince them to come in the first place,” Mr Payne said. “There was less rancor. Obviously it was extremely valuable, especially for those who were in favour of apartheid to have a more intimate knowledge of those who were against it. It was also valuable to be removed to a place where the pressure was not on them.” Mr Payne served on the New Jersey General Assembly from 1998 to 2008. Among the legislation passed under his tenure was the state’s banning of racial profiling by police.
• Iain Percy, multiple Olympic gold medallist and world champion, has visited for sailing events.
• Neal Petersen. From South Africa.  Business executive and adventurer, completed the Around Alone, a 27,000-mile around-the-world sailing race in his 40ft home-built boat in 1999. Born in Cape Town, he had to overcome racial prejudice during the Apartheid era, a childhood physical disability and poverty in order to even make it to the starting line. A professional motivational speaker, he was in Bermuda in June 2015 to speak in the community and has toured schools to “talk about the power of a dream” and to teach children to never give up hope. 
• Regis Philbin and his wife Joy , most recently in June 2003
• Clementa Pinckney, American state senator from Georgia and AME church pastor, one-time visitor murdered in June 2015 in an Atlanta church by a white man.
• William (Bill) Pinkney , navigator, who visited in 1992 and 1993
• Gary Player , South African golf pro, who coached at Castle Harbour Hotel, from 1966.
• Christopher Plumme r. Came to Bermuda in the 1960s to do theater at the old Bermudiana Hotel (as did Charlton Heston, earlier). Noted Canadian film star, in more than 100 films, perhaps best known for his role as Captain Georg von Trapp in the 1965 family classic, ‘The Sound of Music’ made in Salzburg, Austria.
• John Podesta . Former counselor to President Barack Obama and White House chief of staff to President Bill Clinton.
• Pope Paul VI , who stopped briefly in Bermuda on his way to address the UN General Assembly in New York on October 3, 1965. He was greeted by then-Governor Lord Martonmere and the Roman Catholic Bishop of Bermuda.
• General Colin Powell

Colin Powell and Sir John Swan in Bermuda

• Billy Preston , keyboardist and session player known for his exuberant playing style, who headlined the reopening of the 40 Thieves Club in 1982 in a series of dynamic concerts that instantly established the Front Street night spot as Bermuda's premier entertainment venue.
• Maxi Priest. British born reggae, soul and pop artist with Jamaican roots. Last in Bermuda for the October 2015 America’s Cup races and his performance the night before. The singer's real name is Max Elliott. Best known for his hit song, Close to You, which reached number one on the American Billboard charts, making him the first British reggae act to do so. He is also known for Wild World and That Girl which he released with Shaggy in 1996. Maxi has been visiting Bermuda for years.
• Princess Margaret . First arrived in Bermuda in November 1965 as then Colonel in Chief of the new Bermuda Regiment, which paraded in her honor. Was also here later, several times.
• Prince Albert II of Monaco . In Bermuda in May 2018 for an Ocean Summit.
• Robert Pugh . Welsh actor who visited Bermuda in November 2015 to play in a golf charity tournament.
• Nathan Purdee , Young and the Restless actor.
• Dan Quayle.
• Queen Noor of Jordan . In Bermuda in May 2018 for an Ocean Summit.
• Ron Randell , a star of the movie "Bermuda Affair" filmed in Bermuda in 1956
• Pat Rafter , former tennis champion, Australian, has a home in Bermuda.
• Dr. Michael Ramsey , Archbishop of Canterbury (in 2001).
• Sir Terence Rattigan. Spent the last few years of is like in Bermuda as a British tax and cultural exile and died here in late 1977 at the age of 66.
• Otis Redding III. Son of the singer Otis Redding who was dubbed “the King of Soul". A singer too, he performed in Bermuda in April 2019.
• Sir Steve Redgrave .
• Harry Redknapp , leading British football club manager, a frequent visitor who used to run soccer camps here.
• Maureen Regan
• Jerry Rice. NFL Hall of Famer who visited Bermuda in 2016 for a golf classic.
• Robert Ripley , founder of "Ripley’s Believe It or Not!" since October 1919. He visited Bermuda in the 1950s. At the peak of its popularity, the syndicated feature was read daily by about 80 million readers. 
• Burt Reynolds
• Abbey Aldrich Rockefeller. Built a summer home in Bermuda
• Governor and Mrs Jay Rockefeller
• Nelson Rockefeller , 1969, Governor of New York
• Justin Rose, golfer 2013.
• Barney Ross, former boxing champion
• Richard Roundtree . 1972. Star of Shaft.
• Victoria Rowell , actress, from Young and the Restless, etc.
• Ken Russell.
• Babe Ruth . Baseball icon. N ormally as good with a club as he was with a bat, at the Bermuda Mid Ocean Club he played the 433-yard fifth, known as the "Cape," he knocked eleven straight balls into Mangrove Lake before finally driving one over the hazard. 
• Telly Savalas. Visited in 1976.
• Adam Scott, golfer 2013.
• Rolling Stones , iconic rock band. 
• Mike Ruddock , Welsh Rugby Grand Slam winning coach, vacationed briefly Bermuda in 2005 with his wife Bernadette.
• Babe Ruth . The famous baseball player played golf at the Mid Ocean Club.
• Morley Safer . Died May 2016 at 84. Retired journalist and former Bermuda resident. Safer, a fixture on the news programme 60 Minutes since 1970, lived for a period in the 1980s at Mizzentop in Warwick with his wife, commuting to New York for work. He served as a TV news correspondent during the Vietnam War before joining the award-winning 60 Minutes, which aired every Sunday on CBS. It has been described as “the most successful television broadcast in history” and Safer enjoyed the longest run anyone has had on primetime network television — 46 years.
• Prunella Scales. British actress. Wife of actor Timothy West. Visited Bermuda in the 1980s during a Bermuda Festival and appeared in a play at the Ruth Seaton Auditorium. 
• Saudi royal family .
• Baroness Scotland of Asthal, QC
• Adam Scott , Bermuda 2013 PGA Grand Slam winner .
• A. K. Sebrowsk i. 
• Connie Selleca , 1978.
• David O. Selnick . With writer Jo Swirling, he produced, in St. George's, the final shooting script of Gone With The Wind from dozens of earlier drafts (including contributions by Fitzgerald) just weeks before principal photography began on the quintessential Golden Age Hollywood classic in early 1939 .
• Yara Shahidi , American actress , of Black-ish and Grown-ish, visited with her family in June 2019. Ms Shahidi and her family also met David Burt, the Premier, and his wife, Kristin. The visit was part of the BTA’s efforts to double the number of African-American leisure air visitors by 2025 and to highlight the island’s appeal to young families.
• Sir Eric Sharp , Chairman, Cable & Wireless
• Robert Shaw , actor
• Brooke Shields , actress.  
• Kenia Sinclair, Jamaican runner, set the race record of 4:33:61 en route to her third Bermuda Invitational Women's title in 2011.
• Tom Singfield , visited 2014 as co-author of the 2014 book "Wings Over Bermuda"  with fellow-author Ewan Partridge.
• Sam Sneed. US golfing legend, visited Bermuda and played at the Mid Ocean Club.
• Admiral Sir George Somers , founder of Bermuda 1609.
• Soraya — given the title Princess of Iran after the Shah of Persia divorced her because she was unable to produce an heir — visited Bermuda as a tourist in 1958. She was an international celebrity at the time, her every move tracked by the paparazzi.

Photos of Princess Soraya

• Dr. Akinwande Oluwole "Wole" Soyinka , political activist who visited in 2006. Africa's first Nobel Prize winner for Literature, he fled his native Nigeria to escape the clutches of a dictator who wanted to execute him.
• Louis St. Laurent. Canadian Prime Minister, visited Bermuda with his wife. 
• Tommy Steele. Famous British singer and actor, original name Tommy Hicks, who in his early days joined the “Queen of Bermuda” as a bellboy and a member of the crew of the Queen of Bermuda. As such, he used to jam at Bermuda nightspots with local musician Hubert Smith, who remained a life-long friend.
• Robert Stigwood . Famous impresario who once owned a prominent Bermuda home.
• Drew Soucy , runner.  From USA, he nearly won a January 2016 major Bermuda sporting event.
• Matthew Bradford Sullivan , classical actor. Performed in Bermuda Festival 2006. His girlfriend, screen and television actress Harriet Harris, joined him in Bermuda.
• Max Starks and his wife . Both avid mini-golfers. Former NFL star.
• Darryl Strawberry. Baseball superstar who won four World Series titles. He was an inspirational speaker in Bermuda in October 2017.
• Gay and Nan Talese , married, author and publisher respectively. Visited in 2006 and 1982.
• James Taylor , musician.
• The Five Bells .

Shirley Temple in Bermuda, 1938

• The Drifters .
• The Three Degrees .
• Lowell Thomas . American writer and explorer who visited Bermuda in 1928. In the photo below, he was with Carveth Wells.

Lowell Thomas with Carveth Wells in Bermuda, 1928

• James Thurber . As a frequent visitor, contributed locally flavored cartoons and stories to The Bermudian magazine as a part-time Sandys resident at the same time the work which made him synonymous with sophisticated urban humor was appearing in The New Yorker. 
• Billy Joe Tolliver, the former NFL quarterback, visited Bermuda for the first time in early 2015 and again in April 2016 for a golf classic..
• Sir Alan Traill, GBE, Lord Mayor of London, and Lady Traill
• John Travolta . As a frequent guest of Robert Stigwood, who financed the first major Travolta movie.
• Anthony Trollope , 1859 (famous British author).
• Mark Twain . See Twain in Bermuda . 
• Robert Vaughn
• Sarah Vaughn
• Jules Verne. Spent some time in Bermuda hatching his stories.
• Greta Waitz . Norwegian athlete who in the 1980s won the Bermuda Marathon Weekend 10K eight times. She died in 2011 when only 57.
• Earl and Countess De La Warr
• Derek Walcott.  St Lucian prize-winning author who in 1998 attended a Bermuda version of a play he wrote.
• Jack Watling , 1959
• Charlie Watts
• Dionne Warwick , singer, 2006
• Carl Weathers . 1978.
• Carveth Wells . Author and explorer. He first visited Bermuda in 1928 with Lowell Thomas and wrote "Bermuda in Three Colors." 1935. Had chapters on Bermudian history, train travel, bicycling, carriage trips, a "who's who" of Bermudians, old recipes, etc. Explorer, world traveler, author radio commentator. In the 1950s, he and his wife became regular visitors to Bermuda. 
• Barbara Walters , 1972.
• Eli Wallach . In 1976 Mr Wallach, perhaps best known for his roles in such movies as The Magnificent Seven and The Good, The Bad & The Ugly , was cast as Bermudian sea-dog Adam Coffin in a big-budget adaptation of Peter Benchley’s best-selling novel The Deep .  Also in the movie was his wife Anne Jackson and other notables. The Deep immediately rose to the top of worldwide best-seller lists when it was published in 1976. The subsequent film adaptation directed by Peter Yates, shot largely on location in Bermuda, was a box-office smash when it was released in 1977.
• Bubba Watson , golfer, 2014.
• Dr Adrian Webb. He heads up the UK’s Hydrographic Office in Somerset. Visited Bermuda in 2016 to launch his book about Thomas Herd and his Bermuda exploits.
• Lynn Whitfield, actress, 2006.
• Pearl White (1920)
• Robert Blake Whitehill, author of thriller books. Inspired by a trip to the Island — he found the class tensions intriguing - he wants to write a novel about Bermuda.
• Jennifer Williams . Former chief executive of Britain’s Gambling Commission. She met with local politicians in May 2016 to discuss the coming implementation of integrated resort casinos. Ms Williams set up the UKCS, which regulates commercial gambling and lotteries in the UK, in 2005 and led the body until her retirement in 2015. She was invited to the island by Richard Schuetz, the CEO of the Bermuda Casino Gaming Commission.
• Robin Williams
• Mary Wilson
• Nancy Wilson .
• Oprah Winfrey . World-famous television personality, probably the best-ever social commentator and television program host with her Oprah Winfrey show . Has twice visited Bermuda with her long-time partner Stedman Graham.
• Jonathan Winters . His 1963 visit was memorable.
• Andrew Wyeth . Made his own pilgrimage to the Island in 1952. Regarded as one of the pre-eminent American painters of the last century, just three of his Bermuda works are known to have survived. And one of them, “Royal Palms”, has joined the permanent collection of the Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art.
• Devon Wylie. NHL star who visited Bermuda in 2016 for a golf classic.
• Ryan Yang. HSBC executive, in Bermuda in June 2015 for a conference.
• Dick York (for the movie "A Taste of Mink". He was later in the "Bewitched" 1970s TV show).
• Andrew Young , former US Ambassador to the UN.

Many American, British, Canadian, French and other artists have come, shown by name in Overseas Artists in Bermuda . For details of which millionaires and billionaires currently visit Bermuda and own Bermuda homes, see Bermuda's Connections of World Business Leaders .

Authored, researched, compiled and website-managed by Keith A. Forbes. Multi-national © 2020. All Rights Reserved

Rosie Fitzgerald | 08 September 2022

Follow in the footsteps of the queen’s first commonwealth tour: 11 countries the queen visited.

Queen Elizabeth II's first Commonwealth tour in 1953 and 1954 still holds the record as the longest Commonwealth tour to date. Here are 11 places Queen Elizabeth II visited...

The Queen was the most well-travelled Monarch and her legacy of exploring the world started her first year of taking the throne, with her first commonwealth tour taking place between 1953 to 1954. The tour still holds the record as the longest commonwealth tour to date and in nearly six months, the Queen travelled some 44,000 miles across the West Indies, Australia, New Zealand, Africa and Asia. Here are 11 countries that she visited.

The Queen visited St Peter's Church in Bermuda (Shutterstock)

The Queen’s first ever Commonwealth tour started in Bermuda in November 1953. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh only spent 24 hours in the country but made the most of their time, visiting St Peter’s Church and the capital city of Hamilton. The Queen went on to visit the country more times during her reign including in November 2008 when she visited alongside her husband to celebrate Bermuda’s 400th anniversary.

Kingston, Jamaica (Shutterstock)

From Bermuda, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh went to Jamaica where notable moments included the royal couple waving from an open Land Rover to thousands of onlookers at a rally in Sabina Park in Kingston and attending a dinner at King’s House. While her first visit saw the Queen only spend a day in Jamaica, she had the time to slow down and see more of the country on future visits, going to Jamaica a total of six times between the years of 1953 and 2002.

Navala village in Fiji (Shutterstock)

The next stage of the Queen’s journey took almost a month as she departed Jamaica on the 27th November and arrived in  Fiji  on 17 December. It was the first time a British Monarch had set foot on the island. Upon arrival, the Queen was presented with a bouquet of flowers from a child Fijian princess. A welcoming ceremony then took place in Albert Park in Suva, Fiji’s capital where people gathered to see the Queen. During her time here, the Queen enjoyed numerous cultural performances including traditional dancing, singing and ceremonies.

It was the first of many visits to Fiji, with other members of the royal family following in the Queen’s footsteps including the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2012 and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in 2018.

Royal Palace in Nuku'alofa on Tongatapu island, Tonga (Shutterstock)

Next on the tour was a 400-mile flight to Tonga. Here, the Queen met the Tongan royal family in the capital, Nuku'alofa. During her time here, Queen Elizabeth II paid her respects at Tonga’s war memorial and later tucked into a feast of whole roast pigs, roast chickens, yams and tropical fruit alongside thousands of guests. The banquet took place on a low, long table with the Queen sitting on the floor along with the other guests.

5. New Zealand

Aukland's skyline (Shutterstock)

In December 1953, the Queen became the first monarch to visit New Zealand , and spent Christmas in the country, giving her traditional Christmas Day message from the Government House in Aukland where she spoke about the travels she had been enjoying, thanking her ‘hosts very warmly for the kindness of their welcome and the great pleasure of our stay”. This would be her first of many visits to the country where she is called Kotoku, Maori for the white heron which is a rare but cherished bird in New Zealand. During her many visits over the years, the Queen made a point of travelling widely throughout the country and meeting local New Zealanders from all different walks of life, listening to their stories and seeing their customs and traditions first-hand.

6. Australia

Sydney (Shutterstock)

From New Zealand, Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh journeyed to Australia, another place where the monarch would continue to visit regularly throughout her reign, forging a personal relationship with the country. On that very first visit, the Queen started in Sydney before enjoying tours alongside her husband of the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales , Victoria, Queensland , South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania.

7. Cocos (Keeling) Islands

A pristine beach on the tiny Cocos (Keeling) Islands)

The Cocos (Keeling) Islands are a remote territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean which inspired the setting of Jurassic Park, and today, the group of islands is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Queen arrived here on 5 April for a brief visit during which time she enjoyed a special welcome dance and was presented with model boats.

8. Sri Lanka

Kandy, Sri Lanka (Shutterstock)

The next stop was Sri Lanka   (then called Ceylon) where the Queen wore her coronation gown to open Parliament in Colombo. During her time in the country, Queen Elizabeth also enjoyed a train ride to Kandy, a tour of the city of Anuradhapura, a visit to Polonnaruwa (where the remains of the royal ancient city can be seen) and the green and hilly city of Nuwara Eliya.

Kazinga National Park was enamed Queen Elizabeth National Park in Her Majesty's honour (Shutterstock)

After Sri Lanka, the Queen continued her journey to Uganda where her main engagement was opening of the Owen Falls hydro-electric scheme. The Queen didn’t return to the country again until 2007 when she was greeted by thousands of cheering Ugandans that came out and lined the streets. During her time, she toured Kazinga National Park which was later renamed Queen Elizabeth National Park in her honour.

Valletta, Malta (Shutterstock)

The Queen’s first Commonwealth tour may have been the first time Her Majesty visited Malta  as Queen, but it was not her first ever time on the island. In fact, she had lived on the Mediterranean island between 1949 to 1951 while Prince Philip was stationed in the the navy. It is believed these are some of the Queen’s happiest years. The couple visited again in 1967, in 2005 and in 2015 which marked the royal couple’s last trip abroad together.

During that Commonwealth visit in 1954, the Queen started in the capital city of Valetta and paid her respects at the War Memorial.

11. Gibraltar

The rock of Gibraltar (Shutterstock)

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were reunited with their two children in Malta and the family sailed together to Gibraltar  to conclude the Commonwealth tour on the 10 May. This was the monarch’s first and only visit to the rock of Gibraltar. During her time here, Queen Elizabeth II visited Elliot’s Monument and planted a tree in the Almeda Gardens.

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Photos & Video: The Queen’s Visits To Bermuda

[Written by  Stephen Wright ]

Her Majesty the Queen was no stranger to Bermuda, having visited the island several times during her 70-year reign.

Queen Elizabeth II, the UK’s longest-serving monarch, died today aged 96 at Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

All of the Queen’s children travelled to Balmoral after doctors placed her under medical supervision.

The Queen first travelled to Bermuda less than six months after her Coronation on November 23, 1953.

Animation of the Queen at the historic St Peter’s Church in St George’s in 1953:

She was joined by the late Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, on the first stop of her Coronation tour of the Commonwealth. It was the first visit to the island by a sitting monarch.

The Queen’s health is said to have deteriorated following the death of Prince Philip, who died aged 99 in April last year. He, too, was a regular visitor to Bermuda.

There were several more visits to the island for the Queen, who returned to Bermuda in February 1975. Further trips followed in July 1976 and February 1983 before she made a two-day trip in March 1994.

Fifty-six years on from her maiden visit, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh travelled to Bermuda from November 24 to 26 in 2009 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the island’s settlement by the British.

Video of the Queen’s Royal tour in 1953 including scenes from Bermuda

The Queen made a speech during her visit in 2009.

Her Majesty said: “No one could have anticipated how Bermudians would have repeatedly and successfully reinvent themselves over the following 400 years.

“In that time, Bermudians excelled among other things as tobacco farmers, traders in salt, privateers and builders of fast schooners. That shipbuilding skill was in evidence today when we met some of those dockyard apprentices who, having received some of their training in the United Kingdom, are working on The Spirit of Bermuda.

“Bermudians can also be proud of their enterprise, whether selling onions and Easter lilies to New York or promoting subtropical tourism, which was known to my grandfather in his days as a naval cadet.

“Tourism in this mild climate and so close to North America remains a vital part of your economic life. More recently, Bermuda has been a successful pioneer of the highly-specialised reinsurance business. Indeed, in spite of the challenges of the global economy, modern Bermuda has made a great success of these two most competitive industries, relying on some very special attributes.”

Photos courtesy of Government House:

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I was taught that if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t anything at all. So be safe during the storm everyone.

Egomeir get out your shree piece suit

Some of those moments I remember well; I was there. Rest in peace Your Majesty.

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History: 1953 Queen Elizabeth Visits Bermuda

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Obituary: The Queen saw Bermuda develop from segregation to modernity

In her long reign of 70 years, the Queen visited Bermuda six times, the visits ranging from two brief aircraft refuelling stopovers to a full, three-day tour, designed to meet or be seen by as many people as possible.

During that time, she struck a blow against Bermuda’s rigid segregation laws, weathered the embarrassment of the still-unsolved crime of the theft of the priceless “Tucker Cross” and has seen our narrow roads crowded with thousands waving the Union and the Bermuda flags.

She approved honours from the Queen’s Certificate and Badge of Honour to knighthoods to hundreds of Bermudians, including the investiture of two Bermudians in a ceremony here.

As Monarch, she also refused to intervene in exercising the Royal prerogative of mercy in the last executions on British soil of two men for a crime spree that included the assassination of her representative, Governor Sir Richard Sharples.

Most of all, she saw Bermuda develop from a relatively sleepy tourist spot, burdened by the yoke of segregation, into a player in the world’s economy and led by black people.

Shortly after her coronation on June 2, 1953, she embarked on a world tour to introduce herself to her subjects, beginning in Bermuda, England’s second oldest colony, and oldest still in the Empire on November 24, 1953, spending just over 24 hours on island with the Duke of Edinburgh.

They returned on February 16, 1975, for a two-day visit, touring the island from end to end with large crowds at each event an lining the roads.

In 1976 and 1983, the Queen made brief stopovers at the Civil Air Terminal for refuelling for visits to the US and to the US and Canada, respectively.

Her next official visit was for two days beginning on March 8, 1994.

Queen Elizabeth’s November 24-26, 2009 visit was the culmination of the celebrations of the 400th anniversary of English settlement of Bermuda.

It also began 56 years to the day since she first travelled to the archipelago.

Christened Elizabeth Alexandra Mary in the chapel of Buckingham Palace, in May of 1926, the Princess’s early years were spent in London at 145 Piccadilly, the house taken by her parents shortly after her birth.

She later stayed at the White Lodge in Richmond Park, and at the country residences of her grandparents, King George V and Queen Mary, and the Earl and Countess of Strathmore.

Princess Elizabeth and her younger sister, Princess Margaret, received their early education at home.

After her father replaced his brother Edward VIII and ascended to the Throne in 1936, she became ‘heiress presumptive’, and her education was extended to include lessons on constitutional history and law.

As the Princess grew older she began to take part in public life.

She was 14 when she made her first public broadcast, in a message given during the British Broadcasting Corporation’s programme to the children of Britain and the Commonwealth in October, 1940.

Early in 1942 she was appointed Colonel of the Grenadier Guards and, on her 16th birthday, carried out her first public engagement when she inspected the regiment.

In 1944 during the King’s absence — he was touring the Italian battlefields — and shortly after her 18th birthday, Princess Elizabeth was appointed a Counsellor of State, exercising certain functions of the Crown.

After the end of the war Princess Elizabeth’s public engagements grew in number and she attended public functions extensively throughout the British Isles.

Her first official visit overseas took place in 1947 when she accompanied her family on a tour of South Africa.

Shortly after their return to Britain came the announcement of Princess Elizabeth’s engagement to Royal Navy Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, son of Prince Andrew of Greece and great-great-grandson of Queen Victoria.

Their wedding took place in Westminster Abbey on November 20, 1947.

In 1952, when King George’s illness made it inadvisable for him to carry out his projected visit to Australia and New Zealand, the Princess and the Duke took his place.

It was on the first stage of this journey, in Kenya, that she received the news of her father’s death and her own accession to the Throne.

Her Majesty’s Coronation took place in Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953, sparking celebrations and a public holiday in Bermuda.

Two of the Queen and Prince Philip’s children were born before the Coronation — Prince Charles in 1948, who will now become King Charles III, and Princess Anne in 1950.

Prince Andrew was born in 1960 and Prince Edward in 1964.

They had eight grandchildren: Peter and Zara Phillips; Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, and Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex; Princess Beatrice of York and Princess Eugenie of York; and Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor and James Mountbatten-Windsor, Viscount Severn.

Prince George, the son of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge, is now second in line to the throne after his father, who is in line to become Prince of Wales.

This year the Queen celebrated the 70th anniversary of her accession to the throne with the Platinum Jubilee.

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The Queen returns to Bermuda to celebrate island's 400th anniversary of settlement by British

By Mail Foreign Service Updated: 04:57 EDT, 25 November 2009

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Return: Queen Elizabeth II will be returning to Bermuda 56 years after she first visited the island months after her coronation

Queen Elizabeth II will fly to Bermuda today to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the island's settlement by the British.

The overseas territory will welcome the monarch and the Duke of Edinburgh for a three-day tour that will mark the anniversary with cultural events and a major church service.

The royal couple will also travel to Trinidad and Tobago later this week where Commonwealth leaders will gather for their biennial conference.

The Queen will officially open the meeting where the heads of state meet informally to discuss global political and economic issues.

There was speculation that a royal visit to mark the 400th anniversary was in doubt after a diplomatic row erupted between Bermuda and Britain over the arrival of former Guantanamo Bay detainees on the islands earlier this year.

Four men, who are Chinese Muslim Uighurs, were transferred to the British Overseas Territory under the deal agreed between America and the Bermudian government without consulting British officials.

The Queen's visit to the territory comes 56 years to the day since she first travelled to the remote Atlantic outcrop on November 24, 1953.

It was the first stop on a major tour of the Commonwealth that began that year following her coronation five months earlier.

Archive black and white pictures from that first visit have been released showing the royal couple in Bermuda during that historic island tour.

The Queen meets the Miller triplets; Elizabeth, Philippa and Margaret, during her 1953 tour of Bermuda. The babies were brought to meet the Queen as they were the first triplets born in Bermuda in over 200 years

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh are greeted by Bermudians during their visit in 1953 as part of a round-the-world tour

The royal couple will be joined during their visit by Foreign Secretary David Miliband who will also attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting.

The Queen will be greeted by Bermuda's governor Sir Richard Gozney and premier Ewart Brown when she arrives at LF Wade International airport in mid-afternoon local time.

The official welcome will take place in King's Square in the former capital St George, where the monarch will inspect a guard of honour and meet senior figures from the territory's parliament.

The royal couple will then go on a brief walkabout where they will greet the public and children from the Brownies, Guides and Sea Cadets.

Territory: The royal couple enjoy a horse-drawn carriage during their last stay on the island

Idyllic: One of Bermuda's many beaches

Share or comment on this article: Queen visits Bermuda to celebrate island's 400th anniversary of settlement by British

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