On This Day | Naval guns, crowds welcome Queen Elizabeth to Hong Kong in 1975 – from the SCMP archive
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II visited Hong Kong for the first time on May 4, 50 years ago
This article was first published on May 5, 1975
To the boom of welcoming naval guns firing a Royal salute and the skirl of Gurkha pipers, the Queen was yesterday welcomed to Hong Kong as she sailed across Fragrant Harbour.
Amid waving flags and beneath the skyscrapers of Hong Kong and Kowloon, the Queen and her husband, Prince Philip, received an enthusiastic welcome as they made their historic touchdown at Kai Tak.
It was the first visit to the Colony of a reigning monarch since Hong Kong came under British rule 134 years ago after the first Opium War.
Fireboats sent gigantic sprays into the air as the Governor’s launch, Lady Maurine, took the Queen, Prince Philip, and the Governor, Sir Murray MacLehose, and Lady MacLehose, to an appropriately-named landing point on Hong Kong Island – Queen’s Pier.
The Royal couple enjoyed a triumphant welcome. Distant crowds cheered as the special British Airways Boeing 707 jet roared in over Lyemun.
Under brilliant skies, with a few puffy white clouds, the jet touched down gently as it landed.
The Queen and Prince Philip stepped down from the plane to greet the Governor and Lady MacLehose, the Commander British Forces, Sir Edwin Brammall, the Colonial Secretary, Mr Denys Roberts, the Chief Justice, Sir Geoffrey Briggs, Senior Executive Councillor, Sir Yuet-keung Kan, and Lady Kan, and Senior Legislative Councillor, Dr S. Y. Chung, and Lady Chung.