Kelowna woman recalls meeting Queen in 1971

In the wake of Queen Elizabeth's death, Kelowna10 is dipping into the archive to share some past stories about the monarch.

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Shannon Croft remembers the day in fine detail.

It was May 6, 1971, and the province of British Columbia was marking centennial celebrations. The highlight of which was a whirlwind visit to the province by Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip, and Princess Anne.

Croft was 19 years old at the time and the premier of the South Okanagan Teens Association, better known as Teen Town.

She was among nearly 8,000 people who had crammed and jammed every vantage point at the City Park Oval to catch a glimpse of the Royal Family.

But her excitement for the occasion was accompanied by terror as she had a special role to play that day – a three-minute encounter with the Queen.

“It was a stressful occasion,” she told Kelowna10 with a laugh.

While standing on what is now a football field and soccer pitch at City Park, the electricity of the day came back to Croft as she described the encounter.

The motorcade had left Penticton and was headed towards Kelowna. Eager onlookers lined the route, while others bounced in boats on the lake.

As Her Majesty came across the bridge, cannons fired, and everyone in the Oval snapped their eyes towards the road. The motorcade circled into the venue. The cars stopped and the Royal Family exited to cheers.

Croft stood patiently and was eager for her allotted three minutes. But she would get far more than she bargained for.

In the months leading up to the event, Croft had typewritten a two-and-a-quarter page-long letter to the Queen inviting her to Teen Town’s provincial convention. The ask was politely turned down as the timeline didn’t line up. Invitations were also sent to then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and then-Premier W.A.C. Bennet.

“I don’t have that same kind of nerve now,” she laughed. “But I am bolder in different ways.”

But it didn’t fall on deaf ears. When Her Majesty met Croft, she recounted every detail of that letter.

“I was tongue-tied. I was dreadfully tongue-tied,” she said.

The Queen was asking her about Teen Town’s fundraising efforts and to describe what an egg sale was.

“It impresses me to this day. She knew the letter word for word. She asked me the questions and all I had to do was answer.”

And continue to ask questions she did. So much so that the three minutes quickly turned to five, and eventually, nearly eight. The lasting conversation was creating nervousness among the mayor at the time, Hilbert Roth, who ever so slightly tried to take the Queen’s arm to guide her on.

(This, despite the fact, 'no touching' was one of the several rules Croft and others learned in the lead-up to the event, alongside other manners.)

The Queen, Croft said, just subtly moved her arm, and continued the conversation.

“But it was amazing. It really was. Obviously, a highlight of my life, up there with my two children and my marriage and all that sort of stuff,” she said. “I look back now and think how honoured I feel that I was chosen.”

Fifty-one years later, the Queen is marking 70 years on the throne. Platinum Jubilee celebrations have engulfed the Commonwealth and Croft said Her Majesty is still a fabulous role model and as beautiful as ever.

“One of the things she said in her first year … was that she would spend her life in service to everyone in the Commonwealth and the world,” she said. “And she’s kept that promise and it can’t have been easy.”