7th June 1945

The king and queen’s liberation visit

The King and Queen – George VI and Elizabeth – should have visited the Channel Islands on 6 June 1945, which Jersey had declared a public holiday so that everyone who wanted to could come out on the street to welcome the royal couple.

However, bad weather saw their trip postponed, and they finally left Portsmouth that evening, sailing overnight on a cruiser called Jamaica, accompanied by four destroyers. They anchored off Elizabeth Castle and a motor launch brought the royal party to St Helier.

Touring the island

The first part of the visit was an hour-long drive around the island’s 12 parishes, followed by an address from the Bailiff in which he restated the island’s loyalty to the crown. They ate a lunch at Government House, consisting of tinned pie and tinned fruit, then flew on to Guernsey.

Unfortunately, communication problems meant that many residents outside of St Helier had been unaware that the visit had been pushed back a day, and they lined the roads in anticipation of the event, which was taking place less than a month after the Channel Islands’ liberation.