Photo of the Week: The Queen Visits Brisbane

The Queen waving while Anna Bligh, then the Queensland Premier, chats with Prince Philip.

The story that’s been on everyone’s lips this week is the Diamond Jubilee. Despite the London weather’s best attempt at ruining it, the Brits pulled off a massive party to celebrate the 60th year of Queen Elizabeth’s reign. I would have loved to have been there just to experience the atmosphere and patriotism.

While it didn’t come anywhere close to the fanfare of the Diamond Jubilee, Brisbane did quite a good job of receiving the Queen when she came to visit last October. It was a whirlwind visit where she saw some of the areas affected by the floods and gave out a few honours in relation to them before flying on to the next city. We didn’t care if the Queen was only in our city for an afternoon though, and many people took extra long lunch breaks to welcome her. Over 40,000 people squeezed into the South Bank Parklands alone, and it seemed like nearly every one of those people had an Australian flag to wave.

When I arrived, the entire place was packed and it was impossible to get anywhere close to the area where she was disembarking (near the Wheel of Brisbane). I eventually managed to weave my way through the crowds and around the many barricaded areas until I found a reasonable spot near the river that gave me a decent view of her and Prince Philip as their boat went by. Everyone cheered and screamed as she waved at us.

It’s funny — I’ve been to Britain so many times, and have visited royal houses while the Queen has been in residence, but it took me going to Australia to actually see her!

Here are a few other photos from that afternoon:

About Kristin
I'm Kristin, a Texan born to an American father and English mother. I've been living in Australia since 2008. My first plane flight was when I was three weeks old and I've been hooked ever since. I never feel quite right unless I have a plane ticket (to anywhere, whether it's Sydney or Sweden) booked in my name. You can also find me on Twitter and Facebook.
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