Queen Elizabeth II visits Fiji

Queen Elizabeth is presented with a traditional bouquet by a Fijian girl. Image from Fijian Chiefs Facebook page.

After a two-day visit in Panama,  the first country that she visited as head of state, Queen Elizabeth II sailed, together with the Duke of Edinburgh, to Fiji Island, the first Pacific island member of the British Commonwealth, that they would visit on the six-month tour of the Commonwealth realms.

After 17 days of crossing the Pacific, the royal couple finally landed in Suva, the capital of Fiji. About fifty-thousand Fijians, Indians, Chinese, and Europeans cheered, chanted, laughed, and waved Union Jacks as they greeted Queen Elizabeth II. At that time, she was the first-ever British monarch to set foot on the island.

The Queen arrived wearing a dress of yellow lemon with a small white hat, white shoes and carrying  a white handbag, and the Duke, in Admiral's uniform, landed from the Royal Barge at 10:50 a.m. (local time) and were, immediately "engulfed" in a welcome overwhelming in its fervour. The gleaming royal yacht, Gothic, and her New Zealand escort cruiser, Black Prince, had anchored in Suva harbour. As early as 3am, onlookers lined the route of the royal drive to Albert Park, the enthusiasm of their welcome was, in colour, tone, and scale beyond anything this island cross-roads of the Pacific had ever witnessed.

Fijian locals present mats and tapa cloths to Queen Elizabeth II. Image from Alexander Turnbull Library

The same scenes of dignified yet intensely enthusiastic patriotism were repeated when the royal couple arrived at Albert Park for the most spectacular ceremonial welcome in Fiji's history.  In the drive through the city the Fijians tried to observe traditional standards of restraint, but only partly succeeded.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh had been warmed to expect a traditional "tribute of silence" from the Fijian people when they appeared.  They seemed surprised and delighted by the enthusiasm, which began as a quiet, almost apologetic demonstration at the gates of the wharf and then swept through the city as a great tide of acclamation. Old residents of Fiji including some Fijians- shook their heads over this new trend: then said that nothing to compare with this reception had occurred in the history of the colony.

The Queen and the Duke, with the rear hood of their car down, waved and smiled as they drove to the park, where thousands more, crowded on the green turf, cheered their progress to a dais shared from the strong sunlight. Nearly 1,000 Fijians in native costume greeted the Queen with the traditional acclamation of welcome - the "Tama".

Queen Elizabeth II awaits for presentation. Image from Just Pacific

Balcony appearance at the Ball, on the balcony of the Grand Pacific Hotel. Image from Just Pacific.

First the women raised the cry, then the men. The "Tama" is given only to chiefs of the highest rank and only once at any function. Then followed the impressive and colourful functions in which the Queen the Duke shared the ceremonial bowl of kava with the Fijian chiefs and received all the formal tributes and courtesies prescribed by Fiji's age-old native traditions.

Kava, a light-brown, non-alcoholic beverage, is described by most European women as "terrible". But the Queen drank it with every indication of pleasure.

Queen's Address

The Queen, addressing the chiefs and people of Fiji, thanked them for their ceremonies of welcome.

"When your forefathers ceded the sovereignty of these islands to the British Crown they gave it unreservedly to Queen Victoria, for they trusted her to govern you righteously and in accordance with native usages and customs," the Queen said.

"Your loyalty and devotion to the Throne are well known far beyond these shores and I assure you that from the island which you call the 'Home of Men,' I shall constantly watch over your welfare and pray for your prosperity in the years to come."

Then followed the presentation of traditional articles of Fijian manufacture and food. Members of the Scouts and Guides next presented the Queen with a gold ring set with grey Fiji pearls and emeralds and diamonds. There was a walking stick for the Duke, a model war canoe for Prince Charles, and a Fijian doll and basket for Princess Anne. Gifts also poured on behalf of Pitcairn islanders.

Torch procession

Some 240 Fijian men in native clothes, each carrying a flaming torch escorted the Royal couple from Government House to the Grand Pacific Hotel for the grand ball. A dozen torches were carried alongside the Royal car and the procession moved through an avenue and hand-held flames a mile and a half long.

As the Queen passed on the long circuit each torch-bearer joined in the rear of the procession until, when reaching the hotel Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh were in the midst of a bobbing serpents of light. For the torch-bearers escort it meant a one and half mile run at an average page of about six miles an hour.  They had trained for many weeks for the task and performed faultlessly.

On their second day, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh began their tour with a serenade from locals at 4.30 am. A choir of 40 men and women, dressed in red, and wearing traditional grass skirts, made their way to the wharf at which the gleaming white yacht Gothic is berthing. Squatting on the dockside they chanted native songs with movements and arms and hands. The serenade lasted an hour.

The Queen  later told the peoples of Fiji that she had been greatly impressed and touched by the impressive demonstration of loyalty and affection shown to her and the Duke since their arrival at Suva yesterday morning. "It has been a moving experience for us to meet such enthusiastic and warm-hearted hospitality in this distant corner of my realms," the Queen declared.

She was responding in the Fijian Legislative Assembly to an official address of welcome. Queen Elizabeth II also praised Fiji's racial harmony.

"It gives pleasure to learn of the way in which the different racial communities in Fiji have succeeded in living and working together in harmony," the Queen declared. "This had given the colony prosperity and political stability that might well be envied by many larger territories."

Watch: Queen Elizabeth II in Fiji

Flying Boat Tour

Later that day, the Queen took a flying boat flight around the picturesque coastline over a semi-circular route, which gave them enchanting panoramic views from the air in their first flight over the Pacific waters.

On the second day of their visit, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh spent most of the day in Lautoka, the headquarters town of Fiji's sugar industry, on the northern coast of Viti Levu. Before leaving Suva for Lautoka, the Queen attended the Legislative Council for the reading and presentation of the colony's formal address of welcome.

The address of welcome was elaborately illuminated and handsomely bound in richly sealed leather with Fiji's coat of arms on the front and scarlet hibiscus on the back cover.

The Queen replied to the address, and then held an investiture, then the first and only investiture of the sovereign in the Pacific.

Then Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visited the new Anglican Cathedral in Suva. They were met by the Bishop in Polynesia, the Rt. Rev. L. Kempthorne, whom a few minutes previously the Queen had invested with the C.B.E.

There was some consternation when, within a minute of the Queen's approach, it was noticed that a watertable near the pathway, where the Queen and the Duke would alight from their car, was full of leaves. Hurriedly an immaculately white-clad missionary dashed into the cathedral, found a broom and did some fast sweeping up. He returned the broom and then took his place in the line of clergy assembled to meet the Queen. It was touch and go as a few seconds later the Queen' s car stopped and she alighted.

The visit to Lautoka was made in the New Zealand flying-boat Aotearoa, which flew from Suva, on the south coast, to Lautoka in an hour. Twenty-thousand excited Fijians and Indians acclaimed the royal couple, who later visited a sports meeting.

While the day was hot, the queen, nevertheless quipped upon leaving Lautoka that she had "a lovely day". On her return to Suva, it was remarked that she look much refreshed, compared with the tired appearance with which she began the day, when Fiji's formal address-of-welcome was presented to her.

Accompanied by the Governor General of Fiji, Sir Ronald Garvey, the Queen and the Duke travelled from Suva in the Tasman Empire Airways' flying boat, Aotearoa II - an hour's flight - and from the moorings in Lautoka lagoon they arrived at the town wharf in a tender of the Royal New Zealand Air Force.

First to greet the queen was nine-year-old Subadhara, a pupil of the Drasa Indian school, who was chosen by a system of intelligence tests and knowledge of English, to present a bouquet to the Queen.

Thousands of Fijians and Indians from the canelands and pineapple fields of northern Viti Levu and the rich goldmines of Tavua field poured into Lautoka to welcome the royal visitors. They brought with them flowers by the truckloads and greenery by the ton. The whole of the royal route was decorated so that the Queen and the Duke would pass under a bower of flower-laden arches.  Suspended baskets of crimson flamboyant blooms were placed every few yards along the roads.

Twenty thousand people acclaimed the Royal couple ay they drove through Lautoka. The Queen and the Duke lunched at the Governor's Fijian-tyre house on the hills overlooking the town of Lautoka.  After lunch the Queen and the Duke transferred to a small open car and drove to Churchill Park, where they joined a crowd of 8,000 at a Fijian athletic meeting. They were cheered as their car, flying the Royal Standard, drove round the track.

The Queen and the Duke took their places on a dais with a cover of palm leaves to keep off blazing afternoon sun. Indians and Fijians were crowded into every vantage point, waving small Union Jacks.  The Queen wore a short-sleeved frock of pale blue with white and black flower design, a pale blue hat, and white shoes. The Duke was in a light-weight blue suit and wore a brown soft felt hat. Both wore sun-glasses and used rush fans in the heat of the afternoon.

Thousands of excited Fijians and Indians pressed on to the car in which the Queen and the Duke were leaving the sports meeting. Police and ex-servicemen linked arms and were determined to hold back the crowd. They reopened a lane for the royal car, which speeded up to get clear. The Queen summed up her impressions of her five-hour visit to Lautoka when she told the District Commissioner for the Western District, Mr. H. G.R. McAlpine, before she left for Suva: "It has been a lovely day."

In the evening the Queen entertained 14 guests at dinner in Gother. The Duke of Edinburgh also received a group of scientists employed on various projects in the colony. On December 19, The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh flew to Tonga where they were given a warm welcome by Queen Salote and members of the Tongan Royal Family.