The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh visited Fiji as part of a six-month tour following her ascension to the throne in 1952.
She became Head of the Commonwealth upon the death of her father on February 6 1952 and visited Bermuda and Jamaica, before boarding SS Gothic to visit Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand and Australia between 1953 and 1954.
The mother and father-to-be were treated to a welcome ceremony in Albert Park in Fiji’s capital, Suva, before heading to the Grand Pacific Hotel and waving from the balcony.
The Queen was met by a fleet of canoes from Suva as the Gothic made its way to the capital and she was greeted with a bouquet of flowers by then three-year-old Mei Kamona Gunilau.
The duke mentioned the symmetry in his speech at a dinner hosted by the Fijian president, saying: “This visit is particularly nostalgic for us as a young married couple – my grandparents stayed in this very hotel, the Grand Pacific, a number of times over the years.”
