By Isle of Wight Observer
This week sees the 60th anniversary of the late Queen Elizabeth’s two-day visit to the Isle of Wight in 1965.
She officiated at the installation of the Governor, the then Earl Mountbatten, held at Carisbrooke Castle. Residents of Newport can still see where Queen Elizabeth II came ashore, with a specially engraved stone on Newport Quay.
The visit included stops at Ventnor, Shanklin and Sandown, where a special parade of Island Carnival Queens was held. ‘Growing Up In The Bay (Vol 2)’ has film and interviews with residents present during the visit and can be viewed at iw.observer/guitb-2.
With VJ Day 80, marking victory in Japan, approaching, Islanders may recall that Lord Mountbatten attended the Royal Naval College at Osborne, and was involved in the development of the PLUTO project in WWII. Churchill appointed him Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia and he oversaw the recapture of Burma and then received the formal Japanese surrender in Singapore in September 1945. He was created Earl Mountbatten of Burma, in 1947, with the Burma Star Association established in 1951.
Mal Butler