ROYALIST Margaret Cox has come forward to share her very old scrapbook with Looking Back readers.

We mentioned Margaret in a previous article about the Queen's visit to Dorchester in 1952.

Not only was eight-year-old Margaret present at the Royal visit to Maumbury Rings as a pupil from the girls' school in Maud Road, but so were her nan, auntie and cousin!

The Queen, who called into the county town on July 3, 1952, was crowned less than a year later on June 2 1953.

Margaret said her family was invited to be part of the line-up meeting the soon-to-be Queen at Maiden Castle because her uncle was a farm worker and her granddad was second shepherd at the farm.

In this photo we can see Margaret's nan, Eliza Masters, second from the right next to Mrs T. Goldsworthy holding her nine-week-old baby Maurice, cousin Brian Masters, third from the right and aunt Hilda, fourth from the right.

She said: "Unfortunately it was the first shepherd who met the Queen and my granddad missed out!

"They didn't have much of a conversation with her but she smiled and said hello."

The Queen met shepherd G Sturmey and his dog Scotty on the summit of Maiden Castle.

A souvenir programme from that day shows the precise timings of the Queen's visit.

She arrived at Dorchester West at 10.15am to be received by the Lord Lieutenant of Dorset (the Earl of Shaftesbury), along with Lady Shaftesbury, Lady Lettice Ashley-Copper, Lord Warden of the Stanaries, the Clerk of the Lieutenancy, the Chief Constable of Dorset Major L.W. Peel Yates and the station master Mr S.A. Smith.

Dorchester mayor E.L. Hedger and town clerk F.P. Lake Sydenham also greeted her Majesty.

The Queen brought with her a lady-in-waiting, her assistant private secretary, the assistant keeper of the Privy Purse and an Equerry-in-Waiting.

After arrival at Maumbury Rings the Queen stood on a dais and a band played the National Anthem.

She signed the borough council's distinguished visitors' book and a bouquet was presented to Her Majesty by a schoolgirl of the borough.

At 10.45am the Royal Party arrived at Maiden Castle Farm.

The owners, Mr and Mrs W.J.Hooper and their family, were presented to the Queen.

After a tour of the farm, the Queen's group proceeded down Bridport Road to the Depot Barracks, now the Keep Military Museum.

She received a Royal Salute from the Guard of Honour formed by the 4th Battalion of the Dorset Regiment, before arriving at the Regimental Museum at 11.45am and proceeding to the gymnasium where Ducky of Cornwall tenants were presented to her.

At 12.20pm the Queen was returned to the station, from where she left the county town.

Margaret, who used to live in Lower Burton, said her mother encouraged her to start the scrapbook and probably did most of the sticking things in because it is so neat.

She said: "At the time it was very exciting seeing the Queen, it's something you don't see very often, a bit of a once in a lifetime type thing.

"My mum encouraged me to start the scrapbook. I was quite a one for collecting things and had quite a lot of royal stuff over the years.

"I have had to throw quite a lot of it out, but I decided to keep that scrapbook."

Margaret's scrapbook also has colour plate illustrations of members of the Royal Family from around the world including Princess Benedikte of Denmark and Princess Christina of Sweden.

There are also illustrations of the Queen's cousins the Princes of Gloucester, with a puppy, Princess Anne as a baby with her mother the Queen, the Duchess of Windsor and HRH the Duke of Kent and Queen Mary, the Queen's grandmother.

Thanks ever so much to Margaret for sharing her precious scrapbook with us, which, she assures us, will be passed on down through her family.

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