WHILE family history links Queen Elizabeth to many of Sussex's aristocrats, it was her ability to connect with the county's local residents that generated such affection for her.
Her Majesty has been a welcome visitor to the county since she was a child, with one of her earliest visits being in 1929 when Elizabeth, nearly three years old, visited Bognor to see her grandfather King George V who was recovering from an illness. He later conferred the royal suffix to Bognor – Bognor Regis in thanks.
In 1931, a young Elizabeth attended the wedding of Lady May Cambridge in Balcombe.
As a nine-year-old in March 1936 she spent a month's holiday at Compton Place in Eastbourne with her family.
It was one of the family's last private holidays as in December that year Elizabeth's father was propelled to the throne following the abdication crisis.
War brought the young princess back to Sussex. Just a month before D-Day, the 22-year-old made a secret visit to Hove in May 1944 to inspect two battalions of the Grenadier Guards in her capacity as Colonel-in-Chief.
During the final months of the Second World War the following year, she returned to inspect members of the ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service) at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton.
In 1950 Elizabeth became godmother to the son of Major Roger Hall and his wife, of Glebe House, West Grinstead, at a christening at St George's parish church in the village.
Three months later, Her Majesty returned to the county to open the Manor Royal Industrial Estate in Crawley, part of the newly-designated New Town.
By 1951, the health of King George VI was failing and Princess Elizabeth increasingly stood in for him in public duties.
One of her most popular visits was a two-day tour of Sussex in May 1951 during the Festival of Britain, when she “conquered Hastings”.
According to newspaper reports she won the hearts and minds of “thousands of admirers” for her “gracious and winning personality”.
Princess Elizabeth also opened Courtlands Recovery Hospital in Worthing and visited the Mayor at the Town Hall in the same year.
In 1952, she attended the marriage of Commander Peter Ashmore, Her Majesty’s Extra Equerry in Shipley.
In the same year Elizabeth visited Glorious Goodwood when her horse, Gay Times, made her first victory on this course.
King George VI died the following February, Elizabeth famously heard of his death while on tour in Kenya with Philip.
Her coronation in June 1953 was a spectacular occasion, Elizabeth resplendent in a gown designed by Norman Hartnell, the legendary royal couturier whose early life was spent in Hassocks.
The newly crowned queen would become the most widely travelled head of state in history, but in her coronation year she came to Sussex for the Coronation Cup at Cowdray Park, England's first big post-war international tournament.
Her Majesty visited the King Edward VII Sanatorium at Midhurst in 1956.
In 1958 she reopened the much enlarged Gatwick Airport, now the first airport to combine air, mainline rail and trunk-road interchange facilities, before travelling to Crawley for her second official visit.
After touring the New Town she visited Ardingly College as it celebrated its centenary that year.
Four years later in 1962, she came to Sussex to open the George Street Renovation Programme in Hove.
Controversially, a group of “defiant mums” from Portslade were so determined their children would get to see the Queen they took their children out of school for half a day.
“It's very hard on parents,” one headmistress was quoted as saying.
“Their loyalty to the school is being challenged by their loyalty to the Queen. I suppose their loyalty to the Queen has won.”
It was reported that the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh “went out of their way to meet the people” during the visit, with several thousand people breaking through a police cordon at Hove town hall to welcome them in their glass-topped royal car.
She also visited Brighton College that same year and in 1964 she opened a library at the University of Sussex.
To commemorate the Battle of Hastings' 900th anniversary the Queen embarked on another tour of Sussex in 1966 visiting Battle, Rye, Winchelsea, Hastings - of course, Bexhill and Eastbourne.
Another one of the many Sussex landmarks Her Majesty officially opened was the £1 million Isaac Newton telescope at the Royal Greenwich Observatory at Herstmonceux in 1967.
Four years later in 1971 the Queen made history by being the first monarch to ever visit Haywards Heath to visit the International HQ of the Royal Commonwealth Society For The Blind, now Sightsavers.
Accompanied by Prince Philip she visited the Royal Marine Corps in Chichester, as well as Horsham's Queen Elizabeth II School and Forest Boys' School in 1978.
Her Majesty opened Brighton's very own Marina in 1979 and was gifted a model boat, she later visited Brighton Racecourse to watch her own horse race.
The Royal Maundy Service was held in Sussex for the first time in 1986 and the Queen attended at Chichester Cathedral.
In 1988, she opened the new North Terminal at Gatwick Airport.
In 1990 the Queen visited the Royal Military Police Training Centre in Chichester.
In 1999, the Queen visited Durrington High School, Worthing. She and Prince Philip then went on to Burgess Hill where she opened The Triangle Leisure and the Town Council’s Help Point.
During the year of her Golden Jubilee, in 2002, the Queen returned to the South of England show, of which she was a patron.
In 2006, the Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh helped commemorate Crawley’s 60th anniversary as a New Town.
One of her last visits to the county came in 2007 when Her Majesty and Prince Philip arrived in Brighton by train and began a tour, including stop offs at the Theatre Royal, the Jubilee Library, The Dome and the Racecourse.
They also visited Whitehawk's Roundabout Children's Centre where she met hundreds of residents.
One of her most recent visits to our county was in October 2013 when Her Majesty, along with her husband, embarked on a visit to Newhaven's fishmongers, Harvey's Brewery in Lewes, a youth hostel in Beddingham and The Keep Archive in Moulsecoomb.
Her final visit was in November 2017 when she visited Chichester Festival Theatre to watch a performance by Chichester Festival Youth Theatre and songs from Fiddler on the Roof.
Each and every royal visit over the years has been met with people coming out in their hundreds to see our ever popular Queen.
Get in touch and tell us about your experiences with Her Majesty in Sussex.
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