QUEEN MARY VISITS HEREFORD 1937

After THIS POST on the potential pivotal importance of Queen Mary in the VBCW, a short reflection on Queen Mary's (equally short) visit to Hereford on 29th July 1937, as filmed by British Pathe:

and Pathe's great newsreel rival, Gaumont:

The Pathe film demonstrates that Queen Mary had not quite developed the art of the "Royal Walkabout" - so far as can be seen (in both films), she didn't even leave the Royal car ! That said, the Pathe film has some very interesting shots of the Victoria Suspension Bridge, the first female Mayor of Hereford (Luisa Luard) and the full Local Government ceremonial (Sword Bearer, "Liveried Men", Remembrancer in wig, etc.). For more detail on the VBCW local government background, see the Bishop of Ludlow's post HERE.

Although the newsreels don't mention it, it appears that as well as visiting Bishops Meadow, Queen Mary's car procession passed through the centre of Hereford:

2 photographs labelled "Queen Mary's visit to Hereford 1937", taken from
the first floor of the building on the junction between High Town and Broad Street.
Top photo shows Heins & Co.'s premises (now demolished) next to the (also now demolished)
 King's Head pub, looking down towards the Green Dragon Hotel. The entrance to the City Arms
Hotel can just be seen on the left. Bottom photo shows High Town and Marks & Spencers
store (now Boots, M&S having relocated 'across the way').

Another two photos from the same series. A full view of the City Arms Hotel (now a bank,
completely unchanged in facade, but internally completely redeveloped); another view of
the (now lost) Heins & Co. and King's Head.

For those visiting Hereford (obviously on VBCW researches) the Bishops Meadow memorial stone unveiled by Queen Mary is still in exactly the same place today:

[Note: In contrast to her grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II had clearly fully developed the "Royal Walkabout" by the time of her own visit to Hereford only twenty years later. See the newsreel footage of the 1957 visit HERE, and the entertaining amateur "cine film" of the same visit on the Bishop of Ludlow's blog HERE]