We had so much respect for Royals (From The Bolton News)

We had so much respect for Royals

AS you know, yesterday was the Queen Mother's 99th birthday, a very special birthday.

I am the generation of Pathe news before television. In 1939 there were 22 cinemas in Bolton and I could name you most of them. We all went to the pictures. Admission to the local flea-pit was 4d (12d to a shilling) and 6d (half a shilling) at the back of the cinema and 6d at cinemas in town.

We saw the King and Queen and the two young princesses on Pathe News, and of course in newspapers and magazines. They were the personification of family life.

I remember Princess Elizabeth's first broadcast over the wireless when she was 14 years of age. At the end of the broadcast the elder sister introduced the younger one, and Princess Margaret said over the air "Good night children." A bit sentimental but they were so well respected.

There are those who think that the late Duke of Windsor (formerly King Edward VIII) could have destroyed the monarchy, but George VI and his Queen saved the monarchy, and I am a monarchist, no republic for me.

I sent a birthday card to Clarence House, London, and enclosed a copy of a poem I have written for the Queen Mother.

Eileen Gray

Crossdale Road, Bolton

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.