Strange joys of the Queen’s visits to Sandringham Women’s Institute

On a midweek afternoon each January, the late Queen could possibly be discovered sitting round a card desk in a village corridor pouring tea for 3 different ladies of a sure age.

She was there because the President of the Sandringham department of the Women’s Institute and this primary assembly of the 12 months was all the time a fixture on her calendar.

Elizabeth was following within the footsteps of her mom and grandmother, Queen Mary, who had based the department in 1919 for the local people, largely the wives and daughters of Sandringham property staff.

Elizabeth II then grew to become the department president having been a member since February 1943 when she accompanied her mom and sister to the WI.

They listened to Mrs Sam Peel give a chat known as ‘Post-war Planning’ and appeared on the entries within the ‘Something new, from one thing previous’ competitors. 

As Princess Elizabeth and, later as monarch, Elizabeth paid her subscription charge, beginning at a shilling a 12 months. 

A extra helpful monetary help got here from her annual raffle prize.

Each 12 months the Vice-President would write separate letters to Elizabeth and her mom asking if they might care to donate one thing. 

They all the time despatched one thing of high quality – a lower glass decanter, a barometer, a clock or a set of silver spoons. The fortunate winner not solely obtained a present from Sandringham House however an accompanying card proclaiming ‘given by The Queen.’ 

This helpfully added to the provenance and annually ticket gross sales went by means of the roof.

The conferences have normally held at West Newton Village Hall, a two-minute limousine drive from Sandringham House. 

There was one notable exception in January 1974. Edward Heath’s authorities had rationed electrical energy following an industrial dispute with coal miners which might finally convey in regards to the downfall of his ministry. 

With no energy on the Village Hall, the Institute relocated to the close by Sandringham Club, an even bigger venue that would supply extra pure mild. 

With a mean age of 80 the members had sufficient hassle placing out chairs and desk with out additionally clearing the entrance of the membership the place a wholesome provide of empty beer barrels and bottles in crates neatly framed the doorway. 

 The Queen and her mom took one look and roared with laughter. Turning to the photographers the youthful Elizabeth joked: ‘I hope you are not taking photos of us standing by the empties,’ which, for sure, they have been.

In 2018 there was one other energy lower. The committee contacted the House to tell the Queen’s non-public secretary and he reported that if the assembly was capable of go forward, Her Majesty would nonetheless attend. 

Once once more she took it in good spirit and informed the members she could not actually see them at the hours of darkness and that there was much less mild contained in the corridor than outdoors within the automobile park. King’s Lynn police got here up trumps by offering urns of scorching water so not less than the normal tea might go forward.

Each of the royal conferences adopted a standard format. After the National Anthem the Queen would take heed to the minutes of the final assembly and signal them off. 

She then introduced numerous prizes to competitors winners and, sometimes pose for a bunch {photograph} if it was an anniversary 12 months.

And then the enjoyable began. The non-royal members normally carried out a play, maybe  Cinderella or Dick Turpin, or one thing cobbled collectively by the women themselves. 

The Queen Mother offers us an inkling of the royal visitors’ enjoyment of these performances in a wartime letter to her brother in legislation, the Duke of Kent. 

The Institute placed on a particular patriotic tableaux.

‘If solely you may see them,’ she wrote. ‘Dear Mrs Way, as Neptune, obvious furiously by means of a tangle of gray hair and seaweed, and Miss Burroughs (the Verger’s daughter) as Britannia have been HEAVEN. 

‘The phrases have been spoken by Mrs Fuller’s prepare dinner, who was draped within the Union Jack, and it was all good.’

Then there was a chat given by a customer. Many of the early ones verge the esoteric and there’s no report of the Queen Mum’s response to Mrs Waddington’s lecture on herbs, Mrs Forman’s 40 minutes on ‘Haunted East Anglia, Mrs Thompson on members of her household who had change into well-known artists and writers, or Les Kershaw’s account of his struggles to change into an actor which ended when he bought a bit half in a West End present in 1938. 

She did react positively to the discuss by Mrs Love from Spalding on ‘the best way to make decorative birds, lamps and jewelry out of shells.’ 

She apparently admired the latter’s Cutty Sark made out of crustaceans and, after an indication by Mrs Fell, mentioned she’d discovered machine embroidery ‘most fun’ and certainly simpler than the hand-done model.

As the many years handed, the committee upped its recreation and invited family names who could be a protected pair of arms in such an intimate setting. 

Newsreader Robert Dougall was an early providing in 1970. Then there was superstar gardener Alan Titchmarsh who spoke earlier than the Queen in 1999. When they met once more just a few months later when she introduced him along with his MBE she recalled: ‘you’ve got given a variety of girls a variety of pleasure,’ which he is usually mentioned he’d like on his headstone.

In 2017, royal historian Lucy Worsley, gave a chat on Jane Austen to mark the bicentenary of the creator’s demise. 

She later commented that she was going to start her speech by saying that Austen was the primary girl to be portrayed on a banknote, till she out of the blue membered that Austen was the second girl and the primary could be sitting on the entrance row.

Two years later the Queen took half in a reside recreation based mostly on the TV quiz present Pointless when presenter Alexander Armstrong visited the Sandringham department. 

The girls have been divided in to 2 groups with Her Majesty captaining one and Vice President Yvonne Brown heading the opposite. 

The royal group gained three out of 5 video games and Armstrong later mentioned the Queen answered a number of the questions herself and had ‘some deft, silky Pointless abilities.’

He additionally claimed she was a fan of the programme – ‘our most distinguished viewer’.

Without a doubt the preferred speaker was the Queen herself who, each few years, gave a chat on a topic near her coronary heart, normally the Commonwealth.

In January 1948 her mom had addressed the Sandringham department on the highlights of the royal tour of South Africa. 

In 1974 the Queen spoke about her forthcoming go to to the Commonwealth Games in New Zealand and in January 1983 she informed the group about her latest go to to Australia, Papua New Guinea and Fiji.

In 2018 her WI deal with was launched by Buckingham Palace. The Queen informed her fellow members: ‘Of course, each era faces recent challenges and alternatives.

‘As we search for new solutions within the fashionable age, I for one desire the tried and examined recipes, like talking effectively of one another and respecting completely different factors of view; coming collectively to hunt out the frequent floor; and by no means dropping sight of the larger image.’ 

Her phrases have been seen as a veiled reference to the Brexit debate which was turning into more and more bitter. 

Her timing was vital because it was simply over every week since MPs within the House of Commons voted 432 to 202 towards Teresa May’s draft withdrawal settlement.

It was considered no coincidence that the Queen’s phrases, ostensibly in regards to the WI motion, however related to the broader image of Britain as a complete, have been made public.

Over the years Her Majesty watched the judging of a succession of competitions from ‘face flannels’ in 1944 to the ‘greatest adorned coat hanger’ in 1988, and has witnessed a number of incarnations of the knitted tea (and sometimes egg) cosies.

The three queens by no means entered the competitions however did participate within the exhibitions.

In 1975 the Queen Mother introduced together with her two china figures for an exhibition of members’ favorite china items.

 Other years the late Queen additionally despatched numerous items from Sandringham House. For occasion in 1985 she added her personal contribution to an ‘exhibition of bizarre candlesticks’ and three years later for ‘favorite jugs’ introduced three small ones whereas her mom introduced an vintage one. 

The royal gadgets are all the time discreet and becoming for the event, extra Crown Derby than Fabergé.

Towards the top of the assembly the women take pleasure in a tea occasion. The sit in teams of 4 round card desk. The Queen presides at hers and pours the tea and arms around the desserts for the opposite three girls. 

There are normally ginger cake – a favorite of Elizabeth II – profiteroles, cheese scones, fruit desserts and meringues.

The tea time chat was a possibility for her to seek out out what is occurring in the local people, all of the births, marriages and deaths, who’s having a Golden Wedding, one other grandchild, a hip substitute or all three. 

The Queen informed them what was taking place in her family. For occasion in January 1994 she had arrived carrying a plaster forged on her left arm having fractured a bone in her wrist when she fell from her horse over the Christmas vacation. 

She informed one member: ‘I threw myself over the horse’s neck to stop it getting up’ whereas they each waited for assist. The girls expressed concern {that a} younger man had fired blanks from a beginning pistol at Prince Charles in Australia and the Queen informed them: ‘sure he rang me later to inform me all about it and to say he is alright’.

At one time of day, the assembly concluded with neighborhood singing. In 1955 the 29 12 months previous Elizabeth sang alongside as a barrel organ performed ‘Daisy, Daisy’ and ‘Goodbye Dolly I Must Leave You.’

Younger family members have additionally adopted within the Queen’s W.I. Footsteps. Queen Camilla is a member of Tetbury WI, Sophie Edinburgh is a member of Bagshot WI and Princess Anne is an Associate member. 

Catherine, Princess of Wales has been invited to affix the Anmer department, simply down the street from Sandringham.

At the time her workplace wrote again to say she was all for becoming a member of, however she has but to take up the supply. 

Even a number of the royal males have been concerned on the sidelines. 

Charles commonly donated raffle prizes whereas his  late father attended an in any other case all-female gathering of the Women’s Institute at a particular Buckingham Palace backyard occasion to mark the Institute’s Golden Jubilee. 

According to the Daily Mirror, Philip discovered himself mobbed by ‘the biggest crush of ladies ever seen on the Palace lawns,’ eliciting a typical ducal quip: ‘Jam makers eh? Well you are in a correct jam right now!”

• Ian Lloyd is the creator of The Queen: A Life in 70 Chapters (the History Press)