Silver Sands Court in Bembridge will be raising a flag to celebrate the 70th wedding anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh this Thursday (23rd November).
The retirement complex for the over 60s will be holding a tea party fit for royalty with members of the local community invited to enjoy a piece of cake and to raise a glass for Her Majesty and Prince Phillip. Afterwards, a quiz with a royal twist will take place.
Maria Butler, Sales Executive at Silver Sands Court said:
“The Queen and Prince Phillips’s marriage was really the ‘people’s wedding’ and many of our homeowners here remember fondly where we were on that day, the street parties and the days of celebrations that followed. It was at a time when Britain was just getting adjusted to post-war life, so it provided a moment of joy for the nation and a morale booster for many.
“It’s such a lovely idea to all get together and to toast to the happy couple and their remarkable partnership – it really is one of the greatest royal romances of all time!”
The party will be held at the development on Church Road from 14:00-16:00, where the McCarthy and Stone team will be collecting donations on behalf of older people’s charity Royal Voluntary Service.
10 things you didn’t know about the Royal Wedding:
• Princess Elizabeth and Philip first met when they attended the wedding of Philip’s cousin, Princess Marina of Greece to The Duke of Kent, who was an uncle of Princess Elizabeth, in 1934.
• The Queen’s dress was made by leading British fashion designer, Norman Hartnell, who shut all of his windows to ensure complete secrecy of the outfit.
• The wedding was the first royal festivity since the end of World War II. Elizabeth famously saved up her ration cards to purchase the material needed for her wedding gown. The fabric for the dress was woven at Winterthur Silks Limited, Dunfermline, in the Canmore factory, using silk that had come from Chinese silkworms at Lullingstone Castle.
• When Prince Philip asked Elizabeth for her hand in marriage, he created a ring himself using diamonds from a tiara belonging to his mother.
• Philip had two stag parties the night before the wedding – the first at the Dorchester to which the press were invited and the second with his closest friends at the Belfry Club.
• The royal bride had eight bridesmaids including her sister Princess Margaret and her cousins Princess Alexandra of Kent and Lady Mary Cambridge.
• Their wedding cake, which was nine feet high with four tiers, was cut using the Duke of Edinburgh’s sword, which was a gift from Elizabeth’s father, King George VI.
• The day before the wedding it was announced that Prince Philip would become ‘His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh’ after renouncing his Greek and Danish titles.
• The lucky couple received 10,000 telegrams of congratulations and 2,583 wedding gifts.
• The royal couple spent their honeymoon at the home of Lord Mountbatten at Badlands in Hampshire and at Birchall estate in Balmoral.
