queen elizabeth visit to windsor ontario

First captured in 1959, rare home video of Queen's visit to Windsor gets royal restoration

A vintage reel of film which has been sitting in an Ontario man's garage has been restored by a Windsor filmmaker, showing never-before-seen home video of Queen Elizabeth II's visit to the city in 1959.

Tony Blak says his memory of July 3, 1959, is "hazy." After all, he was four years old when he and his family watched the Queen's motorcade roll through Windsor as Her Majesty waved to thousands of people lining up to catch a glimpse.

Elizabeth II had been crowned Queen seven years prior and was 33 at the time.

"It was just crowded with people, as I recall," said Blak, adding he has vivid memories of the Royal Yacht Britannia which the Queen boarded to leave Windsor.

Despite the reel being under his family's possession for decades, Blak's desire to watch the film was bolstered by the Queen's death Thursday. She was 96.

But a Windsor-based filmmaker has given Blak's footage the royal treatment, turning the 8mm film into a digital clip that can be viewed by anyone.

Blak, 67, said his mother had always been a "very big royalist" because the Queen was born around the same year as her.

"I remember that there was a lot of excitement that the Queen was going to be in Windsor at that time," said Blak, adding his family lived "about 10 blocks" away from Dieppe Park which was part of the Queen's motorcade route.

Blak's wife, Stella, shared a similar experience. Long before the two were married, Stella — who was six years old — watched the Queen pass by Jackson Park.

"I couldn't see the Queen because I was too short. So I remember my sister picking me up putting me on her shoulders and it was a pretty exciting day," she said.

"We were going through all the things in his house and I've always loved film and still photography. None of my other siblings wanted to take possession of the eight-millimeter [reels]," said Blak, adding he has two 8mm projectors but they no longer work.

"I probably haven't looked at this footage probably since the 60s."

Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Blak contacted CTV News and shared that he was in possession of new footage showing Her Majesty's visit to Windsor.

"It's really nice to see this footage in colour because a lot of the stuff that we have from this era are photographs, and that's great, but they're all in black and white," said Evans.

The footage shows Queen Elizabeth II donning a pink hat and dress, flanked by federal police, as her motorcade drives through the streets of Windsor toward the city's riverfront.

"Nobody has seen this footage in over 60 years. This is really fun for history buffs, people who love the Royal family and people who love Windsor," said Evans.

CTV showed the restored footage to Blak and his wife. While watching the footage, Blak said he saw his mother  — who died in 2018  — and his younger self waving a British flag while standing next to his grandmother.

"It just fills me with a lot of joy," he said.

"It's just hard to think it was 63 years ago. It's a little mind-boggling."

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From the Vault: Queen Elizabeth II visits Windsor in 1984

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Planes, trains and the yacht Britannia: The 1959 royal visit

Opening of st. lawrence seaway was just one stop in 45-day tour that included chicago, social sharing.

When Queen Elizabeth visited Canada with her husband, Prince Philip, in 1959, CBC was there to cover it every stop of the way, from their landing in Torbay, N.L., to their departure six weeks later. 

And when the CBC's Joyce Davidson, a host of the evening current affairs program Tabloid , suggested such heavy coverage might have exceeded the public appetite, the network suspended her.  

"Like most Canadians, I'm indifferent to the visit of the Queen," Davidson had told an NBC morning show the day the royal couple arrived, according to the Toronto Star.

The comment became front-page news and Davidson was temporarily kicked off Tabloid . 

'A little annoyed'

Davidson had been in New York that week as a guest on Today  with host Dave Garroway. He seemed "surprised" by the comment, and Davidson elaborated.

"We're a little annoyed at still being dependent," she said.

Lyle Brown, director of information for the CBC, said management did not share Davidson's view.

"If we were uninterested, needless to say, we would not be expending such efforts to cover the royal visit fully," he said, and cited a viewership of five million for live coverage of a speech by the Queen in Canada in 1957.

A first for Newfoundland

The tour starts in Torbay, N.L.

It was a "beautiful summer day" when the Queen's plane landed at the Canadian air base in Torbay, N.L., said host Bill Herbert on the first event of the tour to be carried on live television.

"It is the first live telecast ever from Newfoundland," said Herbert.

The technological development that was made possible by the completion of the east-west microwave network.

Gov. Gen.Vincent Massey was first to greet the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh after they descended the stairs from the aircraft. 

Lengthy itinerary

According to  a detailed tour itinerary in the Globe and Mail published in January 1959, shortly after the tour was announced, the pair spent time in St. John's and Corner Brook, N.L., before moving on to Sept-Îles, Que. to board the royal yacht Britannia.

Along the way, they travelled to Schefferville in northern Quebec for a tour of what was reported by the CBC to be the province's northernmost mine.

Film taken by CBC of much of the 1959 royal tour survives, but much of it is silent.

Crowds at namesake hotel

A ball in Montreal

After getting on the Britannia, the Queen and Prince Philip travelled down the St. Lawrence River, stopping along the way and reaching Montreal on June 25, 1959. 

The night, they attended a ball at the city's Queen Elizabeth Hotel, which had been built by the Canadian National Railway and opened the year before.

"During the dinner ... Her Majesty was seated beside His Eminence Cardinal Léger," said Herbert as the CBC camera was fixed on the tiara-wearing Queen. "They carried on a very animated conversation during almost the entire meal." 

The room was crowded with guests, many of whom were massed directly in front of the head table to get a prolonged look at Elizabeth.

"Now they are motioning the crowd to get back a bit more," said Herbert after going into considerable detail about the 14-room royal suite. "As soon as the crowd gets back ... the orchestra will begin playing."

Tribute to a president

A speech at the seaway

The next day, June 26, the Queen officially inaugurated the "great joint enterprise between our two countries" that was the St. Lawrence Seaway and welcomed U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower to Canada.

"The president of the United States will always be welcome here. But today there is an added pleasure and special warmth in our greeting," she said.

The speech went on to recognize Eisenhower's role in the Second World War as "one of the great military leaders who brought the free world through the most severe crisis of modern times."  

Following the speech, the royal couple were shown boarding the Britannia along with Eisenhower, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker and their wives for a voyage on the Seaway.

Following Ontario stops in Brockville, Kingston and Toronto, next on the itinerary was Ottawa for Dominion Day on July 1, where Elizabeth addressed the country outside Rideau Hall.

Two days later, after more Ontario towns, the royal couple boarded the Britannia again in Windsor and took a route through the Great Lakes north to Parry Sound, Ont.

A trip on the Great Lakes

On July 5, 1959, the CBC news program Newsmagazine  brought viewers the day's headlines, wrapping up by recapping the royals' movements.

"The Queen and Prince Philip are aboard the Chicago-bound royal yacht," said an unnamed newsreader. "Today was their first full day of rest since the tour began 16 days and some 2,000 handshakes ago."

Chicago, meanwhile, was planning "the loudest and most glittering welcome Chicagoans have ever given to any visitor."

The program showed viewers pictures of the royal couple in Parry Sound on July 4, which was part of a "hurried Muskoka tour" where they received a "warm" and "informal" welcome from vacationers, according to the newsreader.

The visitors had shaken a mayor's hand for "the sixth time in six hours," remarked the newsreader in voiceover.

"It was a tired Queen that bade goodbye to Eastern Canada," said the newsreader. 

By that point, the tour wasn't even half over. The Queen and Prince Philip would go on to take in the Calgary Stampede and visit all seven remaining provinces plus both territories, leaving from Halifax by air on Aug. 1.

A special royal tour issue of the Globe and Mail published three days later sold out.

Six days after their return to London, the Queen and Prince Philip announced they were expecting their third child. The Queen had learned she was pregnant with Prince Andrew during the visit. Diefenbaker was told, but not the public.

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How Canadians are paying tribute to Queen Elizabeth II

WINDSOR, Ontario (WXYZ) — The queen never graced the Motor City, but she visited Canada 22 times in her 70 years in power.

A picture of her along the Detroit River from 1951 was shared with 7 Action News.

In the past, she referred to Canada as home. Her death sent shock waves across the country. 7 Action News visited Windsor, Ontario Thursday to see how she’s being remembered just over the bridge.

We saw one of Windsor’s most popular attractions, Queen Elizabeth II’s sunken garden. Her image and likeness are weaved into the fabric of this city and the rest of the country.

"The last visit to our city was 1984, her and Prince Philip," Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens said.

The queen’s own signature is in this guest book. Back then, Dilkens was a young boy.

"I was in elementary school, we all had to march down and walk about a mile down to the main road where she was going to be passing after arriving to Windsor airport," Dilkens said.

The queen’s presence is felt and seen all over the city. Every day, Canadians walk through a beautiful garden that’s dedicated to the global icon. Her death is still unbelievable for some.

“To be honest, I thought she was never going to die. I thought she was almost immortal," Ciara McDonald of Windsor said.

The queen came into power in 1952, just one year before Jenny Nolan was born. She says she was fortunate enough to see her majesty in person at Buckingham Palace.

“She came in the car right beside me with a couple Corgis in the back, and I was really amazed at how little she was in real life because she seemed large as life, I guess," Nolan said.

Nolan is in Canada visiting her son. She lives in a Australia, a country that also lost their queen.

"It's very sad. People in Australia are portraying the same feelings," she said.

The queen was Canada's longest serving monarch. Her rule was more symbolic than anything, and not everyone is pledging allegiance.

"For some people, a symbol of pain, especially with colonialism?" Michael J. Krym of Windsor said. “One hundred percent and on top of that, the queen represented to a lot of people here an outdated system -- a system people were trying to get away from."

The throne now belonging to King Charles III.

The mayor of Windsor says the city plans to have a vigil in the queen's honor. Details about that are still being finalized.

• Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-serving monarch, dead at 96
• Gallery: Photos of Queen Elizabeth II over the years
• 'She was relatable': WSU professor discusses Queen Elizabeth II's footprint

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