The tragedy of Queen Elizabeth II's trip in 1983

In 1983, at the age of 57, Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip spent three days in the rain. San Francisco On a rare royal tour of California. The trip included drinks at a famous tiki bar, some A-class San Francisco celebrities, 5,000 protesters, and the tragic deaths of three Secret Service agents. Here’s how it all went.

Her Royal Highness landed at San Francisco International Airport on March 2, 1983, after spending time in Los Angeles and at Ronald Reagan’s ranch in Santa Barbara. She stepped off Air Force One in the rain in a fancy red hat and raincoat, accompanied by First Lady Nancy Reagan. The delegation was planning to sail up the coast in Britannia, the royal yacht, but bad weather changed their plans.

On the runway, Elizabeth was greeted by San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein, who joked, “This kind of weather happens in California every few centuries,” before handing the Queen the key to the city.

San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein and First Lady Nancy Reagan greet Queen Elizabeth II upon her arrival at San Francisco International Airport on March 2, 1983.

San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers via Getty Images

Early access to the St. Francis Hotel in Union Square (now Westin St. Francis) had to clear six floors of guests to make room for the royal couple. They were given the Presidential Suite on the top floor, renamed the Windsor Suite to honor the visit.

On the first night, the quartet of Elizabeth, Philip and Reagan dined and drinks at Trader Vic’s – the famous and now closed tiki restaurant and bar at 20 Cosmo Place (now Le Colonial).

The next day, at Davies Symphony Hall, Tony Bennett dedicated the Queen with the song “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”, along with actress Mary Martin and young comedian Robin Williams. The Queen and Philip also participated in a satirical play entitled “Beach Blanket Babylon”. Chronicle She mentioned that Elizabeth “laughs”.

The next day, a quick trip to the peninsula included lunch at Stanford and a tour of Hewlett Packard’s Palo Alto residence, before members of the royal family returned to town for the main event – a lavish banquet at Golden’s MH de Young Memorial Museum. Gate Garden (this building was demolished and rebuilt in 2005).

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip hosted President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan aboard HMY Britannia on March 4, 1983 in San Francisco.

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About 260 first-class guests were invited to one of the most luxurious dinners in the city’s history. The The New York Times She reported that the two stone lions at the front were washed, the furnishings were vacuumed and ornamental trees were brought from the city’s greenhouses to line the entrance.

Before dinner, Reagan, a little nervous and reading from his notes, stood beside the Queen and gave a speech. He declared the museum “one of America’s great cultural monuments” and thanked the Queen for loaning De Young some of Leonardo da Vinci’s horse drawings from the Royal Library at Windsor Castle.

In words that now seem unusually complementary to San Francisco from the tongue of a Republican, Reagan said that the “beautiful city” was “home to so many different people who are the culmination of our nation’s great wartime alliance.”

Then the queen rose to speak. Her Hardy Ames brocade champagne dress, giant diamond tiara, necklace and earrings were offset by the glasses she slipped on to read her notes.

She opened with a joke about exporting British weather to California but remained frozen when Reagan burst out laughing. She thanked her hosts for briefing her on the new technology being built in California, which she referred to as “the miracle of the space shuttle, or silicon wafer.” The Queen said she had always wanted to visit “amazing” California and joked: “What a beautiful time when the president is a Californian?” For more excessive laughter from Reagan by her side.

The banquet included pheasant, caviar, foie gras and lobster terrine. Guests included Steve Jobs, George Lucas, Gordon Getty, Billy Graham (the evangelist, not a music promoter) and Joe Dimaggio, who told the New York Times, “I wouldn’t miss the world. I didn’t know we’d actually recognize the Queen.”

Queen met Frank Sinatra in Hollywood before her trip to the Bay Area.

Tim Graham Photo Library / Tim Graham via Getty Images

Not everyone was fascinated by the British monarchy. Three blocks from the museum, about 5,000 protesters showed up at Golden Gate Park to protest Britain’s role in the unrest in Northern Ireland – at its bloody worst in 1983. At the time, car bombings and assassinations were a regular occurrence in London and Belfast. . The year before, 10 IRA prisoners had died after a hunger strike in a Belfast prison.

The protests at the banquet reportedly could not be heard, but at a previous event at the Davis Symphony Hall, a protester shouted, “Stop the torture,” and interrupted the Queen’s statements.

After a private evening out on the bay aboard the royal yacht, which had just made it ashore, the couple left San Francisco to see Yosemite – a trip that would lead to a tragic accident.

As the Queen’s motorcade was headed toward the mountains on Highway 132 near the Don Pedro Reservoir, a US Secret Service vehicle drove up to detect suspicious activity. Turning the other way, also on patrol in the area to aid the royal procession, a car belonging to the Mariposa County Police Department. They collided head-on, killing all three occupants of the US Secret Service vehicle – agents George B. LaBarge, 41, Donald A. Bejek, 29, and Donald W. Robinson, 38. pressure on the sergeant. Rod Sinclair, the mayor’s car driver, who survived the accident.

It is unclear whether the Queen knew of the dead while touring the valley later that day.

The 1983 visit would be the only time in her life that the Queen had made it to California.