On March 16th 1973 Her Majesty the Queen opened the new London Bridge just round the corner from Guy’s Hospital where I was working at the time. With my new Pentax Spotmatic at the ready off I went and was able to capture some memorable moments from the day.
The negatives have been protected in their plastic sleeves over all these years and today seemed the perfect time to revisit them. They’ve stood the test of time pretty well.
I even discovered online today a British Movietone newsreel of the day, which is wonderful archive worth taking a look at.
Happy Birthday Ma’am
thechangingpalette 
Amazing! These are wonderful.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Martina
LikeLike
stunning! and what a marvellous piece of history you were able to capture there Andrew….. amazing 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Debi. I remember it as if it were yesterday. The British Movietone newsreel is worth having a look at 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
you’re welcome; and I’ll see if I can get back to the Movietone to check it out later this weekend!! thanks!
LikeLiked by 1 person
How absolutely marvellous. These are stunning. Well done for keeping them. Who’d have thought back then that we’d be celebrating her 90th birthday? Let alone as a monarch?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Suzy.
LikeLike
Great photos and so well-preserved colour. More recent colour negatives and prints I notice tend to be not so long-lasting. Wonder how our digital shots will fare in 30+ years. I think my “new” second-hand Spotmatic was going strong about that time – replaced it with Nikon NM2 which lasted longer than my eyesight. Des.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Des. The negatives look pristine as if I just took the shots last week. Interesting question how our digital images will look in 30 years, as long as they don’t disappear into the ether 🙂
LikeLike
She looked young, then
LikeLike
She was indeed; she was 47 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Loved this post. What wonderful photos from “back in the day”. Thanks for sharing this. And yes, Happy Birthday Ma’am.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Many thanks Ruth.
LikeLike
A wonderful shot of the Queen, that first is one of the best I’ve ever seen of her.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks so much Mary.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love the first photo – it is so free of all the other stuff we associate with these sorts of events. I’m so glad the negatives were preserved so well, it’s a great piece of history you’ve managed to capture. I also wrote a happy birthday post on my blog in Contemplation week 8.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Many thanks Debbie. I very much enjoyed your birthday post and thinking about whom I’m going to call 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s nice to hear Andrew, thanks for dropping by.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great photos!
It’s always nice to see her smiling 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person