How a surprise visit with King Charles gave these Canadian women a ‘top of the mountain’ moment

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They had just finished their own private tour of Buckingham Palace and were still there having tea when the ornate doors at the far end of the well-appointed room opened up.

Seventy years earlier, a formative trip had taken the dozen Canadian women — as wide-eyed 17-year-olds — to England at the time of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation. 

Now, as women in their late 80s, they were back in London to retrace their steps from 1953. They were surprised to see Elizabeth’s eldest son — now King Charles — coming over to greet them.

It was a “top of the mountain” moment, said Carol Shipley, who was asked by the King’s secretary to introduce Charles to her travel companions.

“I think he’s about five-foot-nine, I’m not sure. But I liked the fact that he wasn’t too tall, because then I felt like I was really walking alongside him, you know, not having to look way up.”

Charles “just had such good conversations with each one” of them, Shipley said. “It was just marvellous.”

Until then, Shipley said in an interview Thursday, the women hadn’t really known what they’d think of the King. 

But as he spoke, they found someone who had an open, genuine interest in them. About five of them, Shipley said, thanked him for his work on climate change.

“We felt somehow that he wasn’t just that distant King Charles anymore.” 

That moment with Charles at Buckingham Palace is the bookend of Coronation Girls, a documentary feature film that recounts the trip that took the women to England in 1953, explores how their lives evolved in the decades since and follows them on a poignant return visit in December 2023. 

Along the way, the film by producer and director Douglas Arrowsmith explores the power of enduring friendship and how a seminal experience in youth can broaden horizons and have a profound impact on the life that follows.

The film, which features archival footage of the women from 1953, had a screening at Buckingham Palace on Dec. 2. Several of the Coronation Girls and members of their families gathered in Toronto on last Monday for another screening.

“I like the tagline of how this is a story about being 17 again,” Arrowsmith said in an interview. “It’s how friendship saves us, transports us…. It’s the long friendships and those little constellations of long friendships that we surround ourselves with that keep us together as individuals.”

The Coronation Girls came together in 1953 as part of an initiative created by Canadian businessman Garfield Weston. Fifty young women — mainly from rural Canada — were sponsored for a seven-week trip that took them to England and continental Europe.

“Through it all, I hope you will appreciate the purposes of the tour: that you are a representative of a young and growing country visiting the cradle of democracy and birthplace of many of our greatest traditions,” Weston wrote in a message to the women on the tour.

“Represent Canada well. And when you get back home, tell your family and friends about what you saw and learned. In doing so, you will justify the faith of the Canadians you represent.”

Jean Samells Bailey kept the little book that message was in. Her daughter, Lynn Carter, brought it with her when she came from her home in Regina to Toronto for the screening this week.

Samells Bailey, now 88, wasn’t able to make the trip from Regina. Carter came “to bring Mom’s spirit here.”

She recalled how her mother went to speaking engagements after returning home in 1953.

“It was the most formative experience of Mom’s life,” Carter said. “They took this experience very seriously.”

On Coronation Day — June 2, 1953 — the girls had their spots in a stand on Oxford Street. They watched as the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip, rode by in a golden carriage.

The trip also took them to various places in England and France. Once the girls returned home, some kept in touch with others, but there wasn’t an all-encompassing continued group connection, as they went on with their lives, careers and families.

It wasn’t until the Queen’s Golden Jubilee marking 50 years on the throne that thoughts of a full-scale reunion were sparked. Subsequent reunions across Canada continued to bring the women together, and renew and deepen their friendships.

Arrowsmith heard of the story of the women from a friend. Conversations began around a potential film in the summer of 2022.

“When it was presented to me initially, it had all the markings that I love,” Arrowsmith said.

“It’s got that combined sort of biographical, individual portrait stories that combine to tell something larger than the sum of the parts, and the themes throughout were so strong.” 

As development of the film progressed, a question arose: what’s going to make it all come together at the end?

The idea of taking the women back to England dawned on Arrowsmith.

“Initially the plan was for the ending to be just: ‘Get them back to the U.K.,'” he said, and have them stand at the spot on Oxford Street where they witnessed the coronation procession.

“And then it was another gear shift. It was like, well, wait a second, if you’re in London, why don’t you try and get them into the palace for tea or something like that,” Arrowsmith said.

A letter to the palace was well-received, and the possibility of a tour and tea became a reality. And King Charles might — just might — pop in and surprise them.

There was no guarantee Charles would appear — but he did.

“The way we’ve cut [the film], it is very true to how it … felt,” Arrowsmith said. “There was an electricity to the day, and certainly in that room leading up to the surprise visitor.”

Shipley, who is 88 and lives in Ottawa, hopes the film will offer some viewers a different perspective on King Charles.

“You get a mixed reaction when you say that you’ve been to see the King. Some don’t want to hear any more about it, because they’re really quite anti-monarchy,” she said.

“And then there are others that are extremely interested and view him as a leader….. He is a leader, a world leader who is a force for good,” said Shipley, who hopes those whose minds are closed to such thoughts about Charles will open them, “because we sure need more leaders who are a force for good right now.”

She also hopes the film will help people think about the impact opportunities for young people can have “and how transformative they can be.”

But mostly, she said, it’s looking at friendship.

“The lovely thing about our friendship is that we go back to being 17 and goofy. And then we are deeply supportive of each other….

“When you’re old, people say you’ve got to keep up all your exercising … and that’s all true, but maybe, to me, the most important thing is staying engaged and connected and that’s what we’ve done, that’s what we’re doing.”

• Coronation Girls will air on WNED PBS, available in southern Ontario and western New York state, on Dec. 26 at 8 p.m. ET, Dec. 27 at 3 p.m. ET and Dec. 28 at 5 p.m. Wider PBS airings are expected in March 2025.

Beyond the handshakes

In London and Paris in recent days, royal diplomacy was operating in high gear as the emir of Qatar was welcomed at Buckingham Palace and Prince William met U.S. president-elect Donald Trump at the reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral.

Far away from the smiles and handshakes, however, U.K. government mandarins would have high hopes that such soft diplomacy could help reap rewards when it comes to matters such as foreign investment, tariffs and post-Brexit trade negotiations.

“The monarchy is like the U.K. government’s biggest diplomatic weapon,” said Craig Prescott, a constitutional expert and lecturer in law at Royal Holloway, University of London.

“The status of the Royal Family is such that most heads of state were particularly keen to be seen with Elizabeth II whenever they were in London on various governmental business.”

The Qatari state visit by Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani had all the hallmarks of such events, complete with a ceremonial welcome, a carriage procession and an elaborate banquet in the ballroom at Buckingham Palace.

Any invitation for a state visit is made fundamentally on the advice of the government, Prescott said in an interview.

Qatar, a Gulf state rich in natural gas resources, could be seen as a strategic and timely guest, both as a Mideast country and one that has made substantial foreign investment in the U.K. economy — estimated at more than 40 billion pounds ($72 billion Cdn).

“King Charles III has a strong interest in interfaith dialogue and a personal rapport with the reigning houses of the Middle East from his visits to the region,” Toronto-based royal author and historian Carolyn Harris said via email.

“At a time of intense conflict in the Middle East, the British government may view a state visit as an opportunity to develop this rapport between King Charles III and the Emir of Qatar to promote greater economic links between the United Kingdom and Qatar and encourage Qatar to act as a mediator in the current conflict in the Middle East.”

Prince William meeting Trump at the reopening of Notre-Dame in Paris was on a lesser scale than a state visit, but could still be seen as an opportunity to lay groundwork for future relations between the U.K. and the U.S.

Trump’s interest in and admiration for the Royal Family is well-known. He spoke positively of his meeting with William, saying he was “very handsome” and that he had “a great talk” with him.

“Trump even claimed to be Queen Elizabeth II’s favourite president,” Harris said, despite evidence to the contrary in a recent book by Craig Brown, where the author quoted a conversation in which Elizabeth reportedly found Trump “very rude.“

But, Harris added, “at a time when Trump is behaving erratically toward countries who are long-term allies of the United States and questioning the value of the NATO alliance,” a comparatively informal meeting between him and William gives Britain the chance to engage with the future American president diplomatically “without raising contentious political issues that will undoubtedly arise in the Anglo-American relationship once Trump takes office in 2025.”

When William was at Notre-Dame, he also spoke with Jill Biden, wife of U.S. President Joe Biden.

“That gets to the point that they satisfied both sides in America, the Democrats and the Republicans, and that they are even above politics in America,” said Prescott.

There are concerns, Prescott noted, in the U.K. over the trade policy Trump wants to pursue, particularly around tariffs.

“No doubt there will be representations made at a diplomatic level between the U.K. and America when Trump takes office on these issues. But it’s part of that broader approach of just keeping those relations going.”

State visits can spawn controversy and criticism around issues such as human rights in the visiting countries. The BBC noted criticism around Qatar’s record on 2SLGBTQ+ rights, along with a British government response that it regularly discusses human rights with its Qatari counterparts.

A state visit isn’t an endorsement of conditions in the visiting country, Prescott suggested.

“The role of the monarchy is to deal with whoever has been put their way by the government,” he said.

“It’s never an approval of the human rights regime or anything of that nature. And of course during the Cold War, some terribly frightful figures got state visits.”

One in particular, Prescott noted, was that of Nicolae Ceaușescu, the last Communist leader of Romania, and his wife, Elena Ceaușescu, in 1978.

“The Queen ended up hiding behind some bushes in the gardens of Buckingham Palace to avoid them for a bit.”

Changing the Christmas traditions

As time marches on and families change, their Christmas traditions can change, too.

For the Royal Family, there will be a first this year, with Queen Camilla’s son from her first marriage, Tom Parker Bowles, expected at the gathering at King Charles’s rural Norfolk estate of Sandringham.

“Camilla’s children traditionally do not attend Christmas dinner at Sandringham,” Harris said.

But family circumstances over the past 12 months may have played into plans for this festive season.

“The health challenges faced by senior members of the Royal Family over the past year, including King Charles III’s and Catherine’s cancer diagnoses and Queen Camilla’s ongoing post-viral fatigue following a chest infection, may result in more time spent together at the royal Christmas,” Harris said.

A large family gathering is planned at Sandringham, with Prince William noting this past week that 45 people are expected.

That level of attendance isn’t necessarily what observers had thought might transpire in the reign of King Charles, who was known to favour the idea of a slimmed-down monarchy.

“Queen Elizabeth II enjoyed being surrounded by a large extended family at Christmas time and there was speculation that the royal Christmas might have fewer attendees once Charles III became King,” said Harris.

“Although Charles presides over a streamlined working Royal Family in terms of public engagements, he clearly enjoys spending time with the wider royal extended family over the holidays.”

Another relatively new royal Christmas tradition continued at Westminster Abbey in London, with the fourth annual Christmas carol service planned by Catherine, Princess of Wales.

“Every new generation of the Royal Family helps to shape royal Christmas traditions,” said Harris. 

The concert also reflected a theme Catherine emphasized in recent months.

“In her public statements, Catherine has encouraged empathy with people experiencing addiction and mental health conditions and the theme of the Christmas concert reinforces her philanthropic work and advocacy,” Harris said.

Royally quotable

“Just as our parents served and worked so hard to confront the challenges of their ages, so, too, must we. And at such times of uncertainty and upheaval, old friendships assume even greater importance.”

— King Charles, in a speech at a dinner during the state visit by the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

Royal reads and watches

1. Jamaica has tabled a bill in Parliament to remove King Charles as its head of state and transition the country to a republic. [The Independent]

2. Representatives of more than 80 Māori tribes have issued a rare plea to King Charles requesting his intervention in New Zealand politics, amid growing tension over the government’s policies for Māori and a souring of the relationship between Indigenous people and ruling authorities. [The Guardian]

3. An alleged Chinese spy who formed an “unusual degree of trust” with Prince Andrew will not be able to re-enter the U.K, after a judgment by the country’s semi-secret national security court. [BBC]

4. Prince Harry says he has no plans to bring his family back to the U.K. and believes it is what his mother, the late Diana, Princess of Wales, wanted for him. [Sky News]

5. If you ever wanted to put your feet up at Buckingham Palace, the opportunity might come in an unexpected way. Curtains that were once hung on palace walls, and in grand rooms at Windsor Castle, have been recycled into coverings for foot stools. [BBC]

6. There’s a new Royals documentary out on CBC Gem. 100 Days that Rocked the Royals delves into the struggles faced by the Royal Family during the first three months of 2024, when both King Charles and Catherine, Princess of Wales, were diagnosed with cancer.

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