As the longest reigning monarch of modern times, Queen Elizabeth II was the only sovereign most of the people of this country had ever known, and news of her death touched and saddened us all.
Our particular love and affection was deepened and strengthened by the links she had to our area and the frequent visits she made to this County, since making her first official visit as monarch to the City of Cambridge in October 1955.
Her Majesty had been the patron of more than 600 charities and organisations, many with local links, this included a number of Cambridge University colleges such as Queen’s College, Gonville and Caius, Trinity and Pembroke. Less well known – but no less important – was her patronage of the Peterborough Royal Foxhound Show Society. All those organisations who benefitted from this association felt her loss.
Among many visits to our area throughout her reign, we particularly remembered the most recent – which was to formally open the new Royal Papworth Hospital in 2019, granting to it the Royal honorific. It was at this visit our own Lord Lieutenant was privileged to be able to welcome her – along with crowds of local people who turned out to celebrate her visit to our area.