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The Queen Mother (wearing Queen Victoria’s Oriental Circlet Tiara and the Crown Ruby Parure) formally opened the Vanbrugh Theatre in London on this day in 1952, ahead of a performance by the students of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. The Queen Mother laid the foundation stone of the new theatre, after the old theatre was destroyed by a land mine in 1941. The opening was the Queen Mother’s first evening engagement after the death of King George VI.
