At the end of August 1959 President Eisenhower, near the end of his second term in office, took up a long-standing invitation to visit the royal family in Scotland.
Prince Philip met Eisenhower's flight and drove with him to Balmoral. The Queen and Princess Margaret walked down the drive and waited just around a corner and out of sight of the hordes of photographers outside the gate. Prince Philip had forgotten that they were planning to do this and his first reaction, he said afterwards, was 'who are these idiotic women?'
They took Eisenhower into the hills and the Queen cooked him drop scones on a barbecue. Then, Princess Margaret wrote, it was 'on for a drink with my glorious Mum at a party at Birkhall where EVERYBODY produced cameras, so that instead of faces there were just a lot of old lenses on the lawn'.
'Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother': William Shawcross, Page 727.
Prince Philip met Eisenhower's flight and drove with him to Balmoral. The Queen and Princess Margaret walked down the drive and waited just around a corner and out of sight of the hordes of photographers outside the gate. Prince Philip had forgotten that they were planning to do this and his first reaction, he said afterwards, was 'who are these idiotic women?'
They took Eisenhower into the hills and the Queen cooked him drop scones on a barbecue. Then, Princess Margaret wrote, it was 'on for a drink with my glorious Mum at a party at Birkhall where EVERYBODY produced cameras, so that instead of faces there were just a lot of old lenses on the lawn'.
'Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother': William Shawcross, Page 727.
I too would love to know how it ended up in the scrap yard. I just find it strange that it was in the scrap yard all that time, and no one was aware that it was rare and belonging to the RF.
Balmoral has been updated over decades. Not sure when last time. But unlike Windsor and Buckingham there hasn't been concern about asbestos and other work needing.
