We are deeply saddened at the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.

We thought you would like to see a nice personal picture story at this difficult time.

While we were completing Don Short’s journalism memoirs a few years ago, he kindly gave us his folder of photographs. Within that folder, there was an envelope containing six very special pictures of Princess Elizabeth in Nairobi, just before she became Queen.

After starting work as a journalist on local newspapers in Surrey, Don was called up for the obligatory National Service. He was posted to East Africa – his first trip abroad – and he was given the job of running the RAF camp’s clothing store. While he was there, he was moonlighting as a reporter having secured contact with the East African Standard, the daily newspaper in East Africa. He was hired on a freelance basis and enjoyed covering sports events.

He then launched a station magazine he named ‘Focus’ featuring news of the airmen’s activities, including football, safari jaunts into the bush, mountain climbs to Mount Kenya, etc.

‘The Beatles and Beyond’ – Don’s memoirs – shares Don’s story behind these pictures (reproduced here with kind permission from Don):

Perhaps the most memorable moment, and one of historical significance during my stay in Nairobi, was the arrival on 1st February 1952 of Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh. They were visiting for a holiday break in the hope of seeing some of Kenya’s teeming wildlife and were to reside at the famous Treetops hotel.

I got a camera to photograph them as they stepped out of their BOAC airliner after it landed on the Eastleigh runway. I intended to use the pictures for my ‘Focus’ magazine, but the pictures were not published, overtaken by a tragic event which was to occur just five days later when news came through of King George VI’s death in London. The sensitive but stoic Princess was declared Queen and she and the Duke hastily returned to England. 

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Don has given me permission to share his photographs on my blog. I’m sure you will understand but I’m afraid I’ve had to add the bright white copyright watermarks digitally to protect the original photographs, and to prevent the images from being taken without permission.  So, it goes without saying, that these are Don Short’s photographs and cannot be used without our express permission. I hope the watermarks are not too distracting. If you would like to see the lovely images without the watermarks, please let me know.

We do hope these pictures of the young Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh will bring some comfort.

Thank you for reading.