As the U.K. and people around the world mourn the death of 96-year-old Queen Elizabeth, the Richmond News remembers the day Her Majesty came to town to open the Massey Tunnel.
On July 15 in 1959, just seven years into her reign, a fresh-faced “Queen of Canada” – as she was then - arrived here to officially cut the ribbon on what was then called the Deas Island Tunnel, later renamed after George Massey.
In front of a cheering crowd, and with husband Prince Philip in tow, the Queen “graciously opened” – as per the unveiled plaque to that effect – the tunnel, according to records and a grainy, black and white video on YouTube.
The Queen did return to Richmond in 1971 for B.C.’s centennial celebrations — but there are no records of her doing anything official in the city and Vancouver Airport was likely her only local stop.
