The Queen's visits to the West Midlands in the 1980s and 90s
From her cousin's ancestral home to a revamped football stadium, the Queen made several visits to the West Midlands during the 1980s and 1990s.
Her Majesty kept it in the family when she came to the region in June, 1980, visiting Shugborough Hall in Staffordshire.
The mansion, between Stafford and Rugeley, was the ancestral home of her cousin, the late Patrick, Lord Lichfield, and she was taken on a tour of the palatial building, where she presented a new guidon – pennant – to the Queen's Own Mercian Yeomanry.
She also called in at Saxon Hall School in Lichfield.
She returned to Lichfield in 1988, when she marked Maundy Thursday on March 31 by distributing the traditional Maundy money at Lichfield Cathedral.
She arrived by train at Lichfield City station, where scouts and guides from across the county formed a guard of honour.
She was driven to the Civic Hall where, after being greeted by district council chairman Councillor Charles McEwan and his wife, she went on a walkabout, She joked that she didn't think there could be many daffodils left in Lichfield after being presented with so many by well-wishers.
On reaching the Cathedral, the Duke of Edinburgh helped eight-year-old Emma Court, from Whittington, over a barrier so she could present the Queen with flowers.
Nine-year-old Claire Lorden, of Jeremy Road, Wolverhampton, and her five-year-old brother Peter, also presented her with flowers.
Inside the cathedral, she handed out the Maundy money to 124 elderly people – 62 men and 62 women – from across Staffordshire, Shropshire and the West Midlands.
Tipton, Dudley Zoo, Molineux and Dunstall Park were all on the royal agenda on June 24, 1994.
But the visit also prompted a security alert after a suspect package was found outside the MEB base in Tipton on the day of her visit.
Police cleared back the crowds on the corner of Brick Kiln Street as an explosives expert was called to the scene. The package turned out to be a child’s school bag full of books and sandwiches.
The Queen arrived by train at the newly refurbished Tipton station, before being driven to Dudley Zoo where she opened a new visitor centre at the castle – making her the first monarch to visit the 11th-century fortress since her namesake Elizabeth I in 1575.
Her Majesty was given a tour of the centre before unveiling a piece of commemorative glass and receiving a crystal key to the castle as a gift from the borough.
Schoolchildren then performed a concert in the courtyard in her honour.
She later unveiled a plaque at Walsall probation centre – where the handle dropped off the curtain – before attending a special service in at St Peter's Collegiate Church, which was celebrating its millennium.
She then moved on to the nearby Molineux football stadium, where she unveiled a plaque marking the completion of redevelopment work, before wrapping up the day at the official opening of Dunstall Park's new £13.5 million racecourse.
Further afield, she visited Telford in 1981 and 1982, and Redditch in 1983.
