Royal Visit, 1939 - King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in limousine passing in front of crowd and soldiers with swords, London, Ontario

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Creator

D. Gordon McLeod, Photographer

Media Type

Image

Item Type

Photographs

Description

A good view of the Royal couple riding in an open limousine with a line of soldiers saluting with their drawn swords standing in front of a crowd of Londoners in the background.

Notes

The exact location of the shot is not given.
According to the Free Press of June 3, 1939: "the four-mile tour of London streets starts at the C.N.R. station, along York to Richmond, north to Dufferin, east to Wellington, north to Central Avenue, east to Waterloo, north to St. James, east to Maitland, south to Piccadilly, east to William, south to Queen's Avenue, west to Waterloo, south to Dundas, west to Wellington, south to York and west to the station."
A note in the London Room Photograph Archives index explains that this photo inspired the mural of the 1939 Royal tour that was created at Covent Garden Market circa 2000.
The map shows a possible location on Richmond Street at King Street, near Covent Garden Market and on the route the Royal couple would have travelled.
The photographer, Donald Gordon McLeod was born in London, Ontario in 1914. A businessman with a life-long interest in photography, he would pursue various formats over the decades starting with black and white and then moving onto colour in the 1950's. He gained much recognition for his work both nationally and internationally. Mr. McLeod also taught photography and audio visual techniques in London schools. Although most of his negatives were lost in a basement flood in 1968, some of his work still survives in private collections and in a small collection at Library & Archives Canada, whose site provides the details for his biography.

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