Leader: Honour for Shropshire to host the Queen
Today is one of those rare, glorious days in Shropshire history which will echo down the decades, evoking memories and recollections which will last a lifetime for all the thousands of Salopians who are taking part.
Today is one of those rare, glorious days in Shropshire history which will echo down the decades, evoking memories and recollections which will last a lifetime for all the thousands of Salopians who are taking part.
The county is honoured and privileged to be hosting, at RAF Cosford, a diamond jubilee pageant with the most special of special guests – the Queen and Prince Philip.
Ever since the event was announced there has been a tremendous ripple of excitement among those who have been busy preparing for the big day, and in particular the 5,000 youngsters whose joyful, colourful procession is central to the proceedings.
Catch your breath, because it is the biggest royal occasion in Shropshire in living memory and perhaps ever, when you look at the huge numbers – up to 35,000 people – who will be joining Her Majesty in a celebratory atmosphere.
It is a chance for the county to showcase what it is that makes it great. From previous visits, which began even before her reign – Princess Elizabeth, as she was then, and the Duke of Edinburgh were at the Royal Show when it came to Shrewsbury in 1949 – the Queen will be familiar with the beautiful countryside and the matchless heritage. The hangars will show off the best of Shropshire encompassing art, enterprise, agriculture, and food, to name but a few.
But she will never have been embraced by so much of the youth of Shropshire, the children on whom the future will be founded.
Quite simply, there has never been a party like it.
It is a chance too for Shropshire to say a big thank you for the Queen’s sparkling diamond anniversary, 60 years on the throne in which she has been an icon of duty and dignity, and a symbol of stability in a nation and in a society which has changed out of all recognition from 1952, a time when post-war rationing was still in force, hardly anybody had televisions, and Britain still had an Empire, albeit a rapidly dwindling one.
She came to the throne as a young woman, unexpectedly, on the death of her father, the King. Yet she has been the most sure-footed of monarchs, a model of diplomacy and decorum who set herself high standards and never failed to achieve them, and despite turbulence on the international stage and the well-publicised past domestic troubles among some members of the Royal Family, she has never let her people down.
Whatever today’s weather – and although it has been truly awful the forecast for the day has actually been quite hopeful – the Queen is bringing a ray of royal sunshine.
Welcome to our county, Your Majesty. And thank you for this wonderful celebration.
Today is a great day for Shropshire.
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