Over the years, Times of Malta readers and contributors have shared memories of the late Queen Elizabeth who enjoyed a very special connection to Malta. Here are just a few of them.
Twice lucky
Joseph Mizzi, of Valletta, can boast of meeting the British monarch twice in the street.
Joe Mizzi greeting Queen Elizabeth II twice in Valletta.His first royal encounter was during her 1992 State visit to the island.
It was her first return to Malta in 25 years, and while Queen Elizabeth was walking along Republic Street, she stopped and shared a few words with Mizzi.
Then, in 2005, when Her Majesty visited the island on the occasion of the Commonwealth Summit, Mizzi once again lined up along the capital’s main thoroughfare.
Brandishing a photo of their first encounter, he managed to grab the Queen’s attention – he said she stopped for a moment to thank him for his courtesy.
Joe Mizzi greeting Queen Elizabeth II.A glimpse immortalised
Another Times of Malta reader also enjoyed a special memory of seeing the late queen during one of her visits – and the encounter was immortalised in a newspaper and on a stamp.
On April 2, 1951, a nine-year-old George Vella Muskat managed to get a fleeting glimpse of the then-Princess Elizabeth and her husband Philip on a tour of Malta.
The royal couple were driving by in their open-top car during a day-long visit to Gozo. In a photo of the moment, he is seen clapping while being held back by a police officer.
The young Vella Muskat was standing in a crowd of well-wishers next to Villa Rundle in Victoria, and the photo was published the following day by the Maltese daily Il-Berqa.
Five decades later, on June 3, 2003, Vella Muskat (named after King George VI), found himself on a commemorative stamp (inset) marking the 50th anniversary of the queen’s coronation.
Fenech Adami’s memories of a driving queen
Former president and prime minister Eddie Fenech Adami had met the late queen on several occasions.
Speaking shortly before her last visit in 2015, Fenech Adami had told Times of Malta how she had particularly fond memories of driving around the island as a young princess in her own car.
“We were having tea during one of the visits and she spoke of how she used to drive around all over the island. When she first came here, she was still very young, but those memories seemed very special to her,” he had said.
A basket of oranges sent to Queen Elizabeth every Christmas. These oranges, from the gardens of the late Mabel Strickland’s former Lija residence.Maltese oranges instead of a house
In a letter to the editor published on Saturday, Robert Hornyold-Strickland recalls how his late great aunt Mabel Strickland had once turned down a rather special request from the queen.
“She was a personal friend of my great aunt Mabel Strickland and once asked her if she could rent Villa Parisio as Prince Phillip had just been posted to Malta,” he writes.
The young married couple needed somewhere secure with a nice garden to live, but Hornyold-Strickland said his aunt could not help at the time as she needed to live there herself.
“Instead, she promised to help Her Majesty find a suitable place to live in and to give her a basket of Maltese oranges and avocados from the gardens at Villa Parisio each Christmas.”
Hornyold-Strickland writes that his great aunt continued the tradition of sending over a basket of oranges and avocados every year until her death in 1988. In return she would receive thank you and Christmas cards from Her Majesty.
Note: The photo of Queen Elizabeth with George Borg Olivier carried on Friday was taken on the occasion of the opening of parliament in 1967, not during her 1950-51 stay as erroneously stated.