When Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, visited the city in October 1984 to officially open Science North, a Sudbury woman had an opportunity to renew her acquaintance with Her Majesty.
Peter Wong, Sudbury's mayor at the time, presented Rosemary Ovens to the Royals. She had been the Queen's lady-in-attendance when she toured Frood Mine in July 1959. The Queen remembered their brief, but pleasant encounter.
Ovens, a cashier who worked at Inco's Copper Cliff offices, had been given the honour of helping the Queen put on protective clothing for the underground tour.
Twenty years earlier, Ovens and another young woman, Rita Price, had been ladies-in-waiting to the Queen's mother, also named Elizabeth. They helped the Royal consort put on a raincoat and boots for a tour of Frood Mine.
In 1939, the Queen Mother, who died in 2002, was the first woman to go underground at any Inco mine. She and her husband, King George VI, were on a cross-Canada tour on the eve of the Second World War.
R.D. Parker, superintendent of mines and smelters in 1939, was president of Inco by 1959, and he accompanied both the queens on their tours of Frood.
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The longest-serving British monarch, Queen Elizabeth, died Sept. 8 at Balmoral, Scotland, at the age of 96.
The Queen made 22 official visits to Canada.
In 1959 Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip descended to the 1,000-foot level of Frood Mine for a tour requested as a way to recognized the mine had supplied 40 per cent of the nickel used to make armaments.
The July 1959 issue of "The Inco Triangle" reported the Queen's mining clothes were "a white safety hat, a white cardigan, a turquoise blue nylon monsoon coat, clear white plastic overshoes and white gloves. She carried a flashlight. Her lady-in-waiting, Lady Alice Egerton, wore a similar costume except that her coat was beige."
During their first meeting, Ovens called attention to a painting of Creighton Mine on the mine office wall. It had been painted by Terence Cueno, the British artist who was the official artist for the coronation of Queen in 1953.
In 1984, large crowds greeted the Royals outside Science North despite the cold, wet weather. That evening, Prince Philip presented the Duke of Edinburgh Awards to Northern Ontario recipients at a ceremony held at the Sudbury Theatre Centre.
Ovens told the "Inco Triangle" in 1984 the two queens were very different. The Queen Mom was talkative and friendly, while Elizabeth was more reserve "but gracious and lovely."
The Queen Mother gave Ovens the pair of gloves she had worn during the underground tour. Queen Elizabeth gave her a handkerchief.
King Charles III, when he was Prince of Wales, visited Sudbury in 1991. He and his late first wife, Diana, were given a rock star reception. The King officially opened Inco's $500-million facility that reduced pollutants from the Copper Cliff smelter.
Vicki Gilhula is a freelance writer in Sudbury. Memory Lane is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.
Sources
The Inco Triangle, July 1959, November 1984
