Special Tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Special Tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor acceded to the throne in 1952 and for the next seventy years became a reassuring and guiding figure through good and bad times for all those who lived and worked in Port Sunlight.

Her Majesty has visited Port Sunlight on two occasions – 1957 and 1988 – during which she was welcomed and cheered by countless locals and visitors.

1957

On 11th July 1957, Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh visited Port Sunlight for the first time. 

Following in the footsteps of her royal grandparents, King George V and Queen Mary, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh toured the factory. The visit was hugely popular and a small section of the crowd outside broke through a cordon chanting “We want the Queen!”.

Inside the factory 5,000 employees greeted the Royal couple with rapturous cheers. The Duke stopped to chat with an employee and was overheard saying “I suppose you are the chap who tries to put more bubbles into the stuff!”

At the end of the day, the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh took tea at the Lady Lever Art Gallery where a special cake in the shape of the gallery was served.

1988

1988 marked the centenary of the founding of Port Sunlight and the Queen returned with the Duke of Edinburgh. The Queen unveiled a commemorative plaque to mark the opening of a new soap making facility at the factory which was the most advanced of its kind in the world at the time. At the time it was the fourteenth royal visit to Port Sunlight and 31 years after the Queen’s first visit.

The Queen also planted a tree outside 100 Greendale Road with the same silver spade used by Lady Lever 100 years earlier when she ‘cut the first sod’ in Port Sunlight.

All Image credits: Reproduced with kind permission of Unilever plc