ELIZABETH II
May 3, 2007

In 2007, Richmond greeted royalty with the arrival of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip of the United Kingdom. The monarchs visited Virginia to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown. They first landed in Richmond where the Queen addressed the General Assembly and visited with notable Richmonders, from Governor Tim Kaine to storied civil rights activist and centenarian Oliver Hill.

A much younger Queen visited a very different Richmond for Jamestown’s 350th anniversary. In 1957, Elizabeth met with then Governor Thomas Stanley who supported Massive Resistance against racial integration of Virginia’s public schools.

The Queen’s visit highlighted the changes in Virginia and the world in the half century since her last visit. In her General Assembly speech, the Queen observed, “Over the course of my reign and certainly since I first visited Jamestown in 1957, my country has become a much more diverse society just as the commonwealth of Virginia and the whole United States of America have also undergone a major social change.”

Queen Elizabeth II with Oliver Hill, 2007, Courtesy of the Richmond Times-Dispatch