Commonwealth Royal Tour, 1953-1954

The principal part of the collection is a set of programmes and guides prepared for the different legs of the Royal Tour. These are supplemented by related correspondence and papers compiled by the Royal Empire Society and others. The collection is in English with the exception of one item in English and Arabic.

On 23 November 1953 Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh left London for a tour of the Commonwealth. The Royal party visited, in order, Bermuda (24-25 November), Jamaica (25-27th), Panama (29-30th), Fiji (17-19 December), Tonga (19-20th), New Zealand (23 December-30 January), Australia (3 February-1 April), Cocos Islands (5th), Ceylon (10th-21st), Aden (27-28th), Uganda (28-30th), Tobruk (1 May), Malta (3-7th) and Gibraltar (10-11th), returning to London on 15 May 1954. The longest part of the tour was spent in Australia, where the party visited New South Wales, 3-13 February, 18 February and 18 March; Tasmania, 20-24 February; Victoria, 24 February-9 March 1954 and 25 March; Queensland, 9-18 March; South Australia, 26 February and 18-26 March; and Western Australia, 26 March-1st April.

Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).

The provenance of the collection is unknown.

Includes index.

A catalogue of the collection can be found on ArchiveSearch.

This collection level description was created by RAS.

Various