Port Louis – Place D’Armes – Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II Visits Mauritius – 1972 (Courtesy: Alasdair Ward)

Back in March 1972, Mauritius received the visit of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. While this was indeed a very special event, everything was highly organized that this 3-days tour of Her Majesty was memorable. The Queen was accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh and arrived from their previous visit, the Seychelles. The Royal Yatch “Britannia” docked at the Port Louis harbour and the visit mainly through the streets of the city was characterised by nearly 250,000 people lining up the designated route to be taken by the Royal Visit.

Port Louis Harbour – Royal Yatch Britannia – Queen Elizabeth – Mauritius – Mar 1972 (Courtesy: Mohammad Faiz)

The Queen was officially welcomed by the Prime Minister of the time, Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, and the visit took place in a special car which had its top removed specially for that occasion. The Queen and Prince Philip stood in the ride and waved to everyone as they were guided around.

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip – Visit Mauritius – Mar 1972 Place D’Armes

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip Visit Mauritius – Mar 1972 (Courtesy: theymetinmauritius.info)

Despite threats against the Royal Visit there were no major incidents and at the end everything went on smoothly. One such formality was the Queen’s attendance at the official opening of the sixth session of the third Mauritius Parliament. On Sunday the royal couple left for Nairobi, the last leg of their current overseas tour.