The Society was privileged to have Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as our Patron for over 60 years between 1953 and 2016 – she was a committed and engaged supporter of the Society and our objectives. To celebrate her life and mark her death, we have put together a short display of items from our Collections related to the Queen.
At the beginning of her patronage of the Society, Her Majesty, along with His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh, attended a lecture given at the Royal Festival Hall by Brigadier Sir John Hunt (later Lord Hunt of Llanfair Waterdine, KG, and President of the Society), Sir Edmund Hillary and others, and the royal premiere of the film The Conquest of Everest, marking the successful ascent of Everest in 1953 by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, under the auspices of the Mount Everest Committee organised by the Society and the Alpine Club, London. Both Her Majesty and His Royal Highness had taken great personal interest in the progress of the expedition and its successful outcome, which would coincide with Her Majesty’s Coronation that year.
Both Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh attended a variety of receptions and lectures relating to geography and exploration at the Society during her 63 years as Patron. In November 1954 Her Majesty and His Royal Highness attended a lecture at the Royal Festival Hall on the British North Greenland Expedition, 1952-1954, led by Commander James Simpson, RN.
A decade later, Her Majesty The Queen attended the opening ceremony of the 20th International Geographical Congress at the Royal Albert Hall on 21 July 1964. HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and several hundred Fellows of the Society attended the event. Opening the Congress, “Her Majesty stressed the value of international cooperation in research into the increasing number of geographical facts becoming available in modern times”. She also highlighted the importance of geographers in recording and interpreting the impact of the profound changes in both human and physical environments witnessed over the previous decades. Other principal meetings of the Congress were held at the Society and the then newly-completed buildings of Imperial College, London.
In June 1977 the Society celebrated the Queen’s Silver Jubilee with five public lectures on exploration during the Queen’s 25 year reign. The lectures were attended by members of the Royal Family, and the Society’s Council followed the traditional practice of presenting a loyal address to Her Majesty:
“We, the President, Council and Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society, Your Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, beg Your Majesty to accept our most heartfelt congratulations on the twenty fifth year of Your Majesty's reign.
The Royal Geographical Society is privileged to enjoy Your Majesty’s Royal Patronage and to benefit from the Royal Medals awarded annually for the encouragement of geographical science and discovery.
During Your Majesty's reign, geography has assumed an increasingly prominent position in education and public administration. Over six thousand Fellows of the Society are joined together by the earnest wish and prayer that you may long be spared to continue to give to Your subjects that example of wisdom and steadfastness that has been an inspiration to them during Your reign.”
The Society was also honoured by the presence of Her Majesty The Queen at the Society’s celebration of its 150th anniversary in 1980. The celebrations spanned from 8 to 11 June 1980, and involved recitals by the Guadagnini Quartet on geographical themed works by Hadyn, Ravel, Wolf and Dvorak, luncheon and afternoon tea in the garden, tours of the building, presentations and exhibitions about the Society.
Her Majesty visited the Society several times for events marking the anniversary of the first successful ascent of Mount Everest in 1953. Her Majesty The Queen, HRH The Princess Royal, Commander Timothy Lawrence and HRH The Duke of Kent attended a presentation at the Society on 6 May 1993. Sir Chris Bonington introduced a vivid account of the epic climb by Lord Hunt, Sir Edmund Hillary, Michael Ward and George Band. The Queen then met members of the 1953 Everest team and attended a reception of invited guests from the Society, the Alpine Club and the world of mountaineering.
In 2013, sixty years after her first visit to the Society, Her Majesty and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh attended a reception held at the Society to mark the 60th Everest anniversary. The event was hosted by Stephen Venables and included presentations from Sir Chris Bonington, Doug Scott and the sons of Hillary and Tenzing, Peter Hillary and Jamling Tenzing Norgay.
Throughout her reign, Her Majesty The Queen approved the award of two Gold Medals every year to recognise excellence in geographical research, fieldwork, teaching, policy, and public engagement.
The Society’s Gold Medal originated in 1831 as an annual gift of 50 guineas from King William IV for the encouragement of geographical science and discovery. Originally the award was received in cash and the first to receive it was Richard Lander, in 1832, for exploring the course of the Niger River to the sea. In 1839, it was decided to divide the award and since then the Society has awarded two medals: the Patron's Medal and the Founder's Medal, both of equal value and merit.
Sir Edmund Hillary, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Sir David Attenborough, Dr Sylvia Earle and Professor Lord Nicholas Stern have been among the many recipients during Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s reign and under her patronage of the Society.