While the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh were busy with their post-Coronation Tours around the United Kingdom, the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret were on a Tour of Rhodesia on this day in 1953, which was their first foreign visit following the death of King George VI. The Rhodesia visit has originally been planned for the then Princess Elizabeth but had to be cancelled following the King’s sudden death the previous year and her accession to the Throne.
The Queen Mother and Princess Margaret arrived at Salisbury, where they were welcomed by Sir John Kennedy, the Governor of Southern Rhodesia, who held a Ball in honour of the Queen Mother (wearing the Oriental Circlet Tiara) and Princess (in the Cartier Halo Tiara) that evening at Government House in Salisbury.
The Royal Party then travelled to Bulawayo to open the Rhodes Centenary Exhibition, where the Queen Mother (wearing the Greville Tiara and Greville Festoon Necklace) and Princess Margaret (in the Cartier Halo Tiara) attended a Concert given under the direction of the famous conductor Sir John Barbiroll at a Theatre in the great Rhodes Centenary Exhibition.
The Queen Mother and Princess Margaret also visited Gwelo, Que Que, Salisbury, Great Zimbabwe and Fort Victoria abroad the Royal Train before returning to the United Kingdom.
In the middle of this tour, Margaret learned that Peter Townsend had been shipped out of Britain earlier than expected. She’d been promised that he’d remain in Britain long enough for her to get back from this tour and bid him farewell in person.