The historic passage of Queen Elizabeth II through Panama on her first trip abroad as monarch

It was a remarkable visit, in the literal sense of the word.

21 cannon shots proclaimed the arrival of the Queen Elizabeth II of England and her husband Felipe de Edimburgo on the coast of the city of Colón, while the ships near the Panama Canal sounded their sirens and the British Royal Navy band played a melody on board the Gothic liner.

It was around 7:30 a.m. on Sunday November 29, 1953 and a historic day was dawning: “The first and only time that Queen Elizabeth II visited Panamanian land,” Colonel historian Luis Javier Ceballos told BBC Mundo.

His passage through Panama was part of his first international trip as monarch. Isabel II she had been crowned almost six months earlier, on June 2, when she was 26 years old.

The six-month journey would take her and her husband to several of the Member States of the British Commonwealth of Nations. (Commonwealth). The Panama Canal was passing through and, although it was not an official state visit, Panamanian society did not miss the opportunity to celebrate it in style.

“It was a privilege for Panama to have been selected at that time by the English Crown as the transit point from the Atlantic to the Pacific en route to New Zealand and Australia, “explained Ceballos.

There was also a chronological coincidence: in November 1953, Panama celebrated its 50th anniversary as a republic.

“Panamanian President José Antonio Remón Cantera took advantage of the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary to reconcile all the political parties and reduce tensions in the country. People enthusiastically applauded the government’s initiative to admit all the ceremonial protocol to receive Queen Elizabeth II and her husband. “

“The queen and the prince could simply have passed by. But the Panamanian diplomacy, in conversation with the US embassy – which administered the Panama Canal Zone – created an itinerary to receive the distinguished guests,” Ceballos said.

“It was a clear message that Panama not only had a solid relationship with the United States then, but also strengthened it with the United Kingdom.”

“Apotheosis”

The event was brightly announced in the Panamanian media.

This is how it appeared in La Estrella de Panamá, the newspaper with the largest circulation in the country.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the English press also broke the news: “Today the Gothic will arrive in Panama. And while the ocean liner crosses the canal, the queen and the duke will land and spend time as guests of the Panamanian president,” it reads in the November 29 front page of the London daily Weekly Dispatch.

The next day – which coincided with the 79th birthday of Winston Churchill, whom the queen congratulated from Panama – more than 50 British newspapers with regional and national circulation published chronicles of the “enthusiastic welcome” (Shields Daily News), how the queen “captured all the hearts in Panama” (Northern Whig) and the “multitudes vitoreantes who broke the police cords to run alongside Queen Elizabeth’s car “(Dundee Courier).

In Columbus, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh took a tour in a convertible car and visited the Municipal Palace, where the monarch received the necklace of honor and the keys to the city.

“It was tremendous”, says Ceballos. “The Ministry of Education ordered all elementary school children to form a line of honor from the port to the palace. Also, here in Columbus there are a large number of members of the British Commonwealth of Nations who prepared in their best clothes to receive the queen and all her entourage “.

From Colón they left on the cruise to the port of balboa, on the other side of the Panama Canal, where they were received by the governor of the Canal Zone, John States Seybold, with whom they made a tour to the Chorrillo neighborhood, where the Boundary with the Zone was.

Then they left for the capital.

“Two meters from the queen”

Among the crowd that welcomed Queen Isabel when she arrived in Panama City was Alberto Luis Tuñón Núñez, a Panamanian with a passion for history who was just a teenager in 1953.

“The visit was the topic of the day. In the neighborhood, everyone commented: ‘The queen is coming, the queen is coming!’ and practically the entire city was mobilized“, he told BBC Mundo in a telephone conversation

“I heard on the radio that they were arriving and I went downtown. It was a long bus trip from my house, but seeing a queen was a great news, especially to Isabel, with her youth, her recent coronation and the sympathy that radiated“.

“I remember that that day the sun was beating down hard and the queen opened a very elegant white parasol. In the streets, people waved white handkerchiefs.”

The most emotional moment, he recalls, was when the convertible passed in front of the iconic Casa Miller, an old wooden condominium -now converted into a hotel- located in Calidonia, in the urban area of ​​the Panamanian capital.

The three-story building was inhabited entirely by hundreds of Afro-Antillean families, descendants of natives of the islands of the Commonwealth in the Caribbean who came to Panama to work on the construction of the canal.

“Waving their flags, without there being a choir director, the elegant ladieswearing feather hats, gloves and fans they began to sing the hymn ‘God save the queen’ from their wide balconies “.

“It was impressive because the queen was not expecting that reception. The protocol chief who accompanied them ordered the car to stop and explained that the building was inhabited by Panamanians who had come from the Antilles.”

“My privilege was to be able to see it from very close. It was barely two meters away and I could see that the queen, excited, He grabbed Prince Philip’s hand and squeezed it. I still remember it like it was yesterday. “

The day ended with a banquet and a gala at the Union Club.

Press clippings of the time detail that Queen Isabel danced with President Remón, and Prince Felipe with the wife of the Panamanian president.

“I remember there were many popular comments, because at that time chachachá, guaracha and boleros were danced, and the people wondered how the royalty would have faced the salsa movements and the Caribbean joy,” says Alberto and lets out a giggle.

After the dance, the farewell came.

Around midnight, the queen and prince returned to the Gothic to set sail for the Fiji Islands the next morning.

The trip was unforgettable for many Panamanians, and apparently also for the queen.

The Ambassador of Panama in the United Kingdom, Natalia Royo de Hagerman, told BBC Mundo that, in 2019, when her credential presentation ceremony took place, Isabel II “shared anecdotes from her 1953 trip with laughter.”

Among them, said the diplomat, a funny moment when, about to start the car ride through Colón, a security agent rushed to the car and pressed the lock on the door. When it came to a convertible, the queen sarcastically replied: “Thank you, now I feel much safer!”

It was, says Hagerman, one of the many memories that the monarch kept about the first and last trip she made to Panama.

“The visit of Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh was remembered by His Majesty – and is remembered by Panamanians – with great affection.”

_______________________________