The first visit to Salisbury of Queen Elizabeth II was in July 1952.

Although this visit was ‘unofficial’, she captured the hearts of the citizens and the thousands who streamed into town from surrounding districts.

On leaving Longford Castle, where she was entertained by the Earl and Countess of Radnor, the Queen motored to Salisbury to rejoin the Royal train.

She travelled by way of New Bridge Road, Exeter Street, St. John’s Street, Catherine Street, Queen Street, Blue Boar Row, Minster Street, Silver Street, and Fisherton Street, to the Railway Station.

Unfortunately rain began to fall and this disappointed the waiting crowds, especially those with a window vantage point who were generally unable to glimpse Her Majesty as the roof of her Daimler saloon was closed.

As she walked from her car along the red carpet to the Royal train at the station, the privileged spectators were able to sense her infectious charm even more than those who watched from street pavements and enclosures.

For the Queen it was near the close of a busy day, during which she had visited the Dorset Regiment at Dorchester, and the Duchy of Cornwall manors at Gillingham and Mere.

The day before the Queen’s visit, disaster had struck when an aircraft on a flight from the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment at Boscombe Down crashed into the new housing estate at Bemerton Heath.

With the diligence and sincerity that marked the reign of her late father, King George, she enquired about those families who had suffered.

It was with visible relief that she heard the Mayor’s assurance that no citizens were killed, and an equal expression of shock to learn that the aircraft’s crew of two had perished.