42 years ago: when the Queen visited Switzerland
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42 years agoWhen the Queen visited Switzerland
Queen Elizabeth II visited Switzerland in 1980. It will be her last state visit.
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On April 29, 1980, the Queen lands in Kloten, Zurich.
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On her four-day state visit, she drives through Bern, Montreux, Geneva, Basel and Zurich.
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In a speech in the Federal Palace, she called Switzerland a role model for peace.
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It should remain the Queen’s only visit to Switzerland.
April 29, 1980, 11:40 a.m.: Queen Elizabeth II lands with her husband Philip in Zurich, Kloten. The Royals are welcomed by Federal President Georges-André Chevallaz on a red carpet – to the written national anthem “God Save the Queen”. A four-day state visit follows. Bern, Montreux, Geneva, Basel and Zurich: This is what the Queen’s full program looked like.
Most of the journeys are made in a special SBB train, for the occasional car journey a dark red and black Rolls-Royce Phantom VI is flown in, as befits its status. In order to be able to handle this correctly, the federal chauffeurs even get extra driving lessons.
2000 police officers accompany the queen
In a speech in the Federal Palace, she called Switzerland a role model for peace. She praises the diversity of the country – and the well-meaning unity, despite different cultures and languages. Reporters report that the Queen described Switzerland as “magnificent”.
Around 2000 police officers guard the British Queen during her journey through Switzerland. Young people are demonstrating in Basel and Zurich – but the Queen doesn’t notice anything, she is isolated from the Swiss people by the police.
The only visit to Switzerland
One reason for the enormous security precautions: the great fear of a terrorist attack by the Irish Republican Army (IRA), which is demanding the reunification of Ireland and Northern Ireland. For this reason, even the manhole covers are fastened in Zurich to be on the safe side. Luckily it remains peaceful.
Queen Elizabeth II is the first British head of state to visit Switzerland. It was the only visit she paid to Switzerland during her 70-year monarchy. After her visit to Switzerland, the Queen told the “Schweizer Illustrierte” that she was very much looking forward to it. There were probably no earlier visits because after the war “it was already too late for me to learn to ski”.
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