The 1960’s started with President John F. Kennedy stating that by the end of the decade we would put a man on the moon, and it ended with that promise fulfilled. It was the decade of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Martin Luther King Jr. famously stating “I Have a Dream”. In Britain, Queen Elizabeth II was about to welcome a new member to the family.
New additions
No sooner did the “Sixties” begin than the royal family welcomed a new addition, when Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II gave birth to her third child, Andrew. Three months later, the Queen’s sister, Princess Margaret, married the British photographer and filmmaker Antony Armstrong-Jones.
This was not the only royal wedding of the 1960’s. The Queen’s cousin, The Duke of Kent, married Katherine Worsley in 1961 and in 1963, another of the Queen’s cousins, Princess Alexandra, married Angus Ogilvy.
The Kennedy’s
On the 12th April 1961, Yuri Gagarin, a Russian cosmonaut, became the first man in space. Seen as a major blow to the United States efforts in the “space race”, the following month, President John F. Kennedy addressed congress, and vowed that by the end of the decade, America would put a man on the moon.
John F. Kennedy had only been President for a few months when he and his wife, Jacqueline, flew to Britain on a state visit, to meet the Queen and Prince Philip at Buckingham Palace. The President wrote to the Queen after their meeting, saying he would “always cherish the memory of that delightful evening.”
Tragically, in November 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Queen Elizabeth could not attend his funeral as she was pregnant at the time with her fourth child, Edward.
In honour of his passing in 1965, the Queen, together with the President’s wife, opened a memorial to the President at Runnymede in Surrey in front of other members of the Kennedy family.
Champions and Cruise Liners
On July 30th 1966, at Wembley Stadium in London, Queen Elizabeth handed the England football captain, Bobby Moore, the Jules Rimet Trophy after England beat West Germany to win the World Cup.
In 1967 Queen Elizabeth II launched the Cunard cruise liner named after her, the “Queen Elizabeth II” or the “QE2” as is more famously known. She made her maiden voyage travelling to New York on 2nd May 1969.
The Documentary
In February 1969, President Richard Nixon, having recently taken office, paid an informal visit to Buckingham Palace, where he was received by the Queen, Prince Philip, Prince Charles and Princess Anne. Their meeting was captured by a tv crew for a documentary called “Royal Family” which was released that year.
The documentary was a co-production by both the BBC and ITV. It was made in an attempt to make the Royals more “accessible” by allowing the public a glimpse of how the Royal family lived their day-to-day lives. A total of forty-three hours of filming took place, that was then cut down to the two-hour documentary that was released. The final footage was chosen by a committee that was chaired by Prince Philip.
A Promise Fulfilled
The 60’s ended with possibly its most iconic moment. When American astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the moon, in July of 1969, to become the first man to do so, and thereby fulfilling the words of President John F Kennedy in 1961 that: “This nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.”
The astronauts had with them on their mission a tiny disc that contained a message from Queen Elizabeth, that stated “On behalf of the British people, I salute the skills and courage which have brought man to the moon. May this endeavour increase the knowledge and well-bring of mankind.”
On October 14th 1969, the three astronauts of the Apollo 11 mission, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, along with their wives, as part of a world tour, visited Buckingham Palace at the invitation of the royal family.
The 1960’s saw the Queen’s family grow and it ended with “one small step for man”. For our next blog in this series, we take a look back at the 1970’s, which saw the breakup of The Beatles, and Walt Disney World, in Florida, opens its doors for the very first time. In Britain, Decimalisation brings an end to a thousand years of pounds, shillings and pence, and Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her Diamond Jubilee.
In 2019, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Concorde’s first flight in 1969, a new gold quarter sovereign had been minted. These are the world’s first reverse-frosted gold sovereigns, and you can purchase them HERE.
