Queen Elizabeth II’s visit to Hyderabad leaves cherished memories for Presbyter’s sons

Hyderabad: As the world reacts to the death of Queen Elizabeth II, there are some in Hyderabad too, who cherish the memories of her visit to the city 39 years ago. Prominent among these are Joel and Joshua Hamilton, the sons of Rev Dr. Gadde John Hamilton, who was the Resident Presbyter of the Holy […]

Hyderabad: As the world reacts to the death of Queen Elizabeth II, there are some in Hyderabad too, who cherish the memories of her visit to the city 39 years ago.

Prominent among these are Joel and Joshua Hamilton, the sons of Rev Dr. Gadde John Hamilton, who was the Resident Presbyter of the Holy Trinity Church, Bolarum, where the Queen wanted to celebrate her wedding anniversary and as part of which a Matins Service was held from 10.30 am on November 20, 1983. The two still cherish the photographs and a clutch of other memoirs handed down from Rev. Hamilton, who passed away in February 2021.

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These include the invitation card to the service, a personally signed photograph of the Queen, which she herself presented to Rev. Hamilton, and also a letter from the Buckingham Palace, signed by the Queen’s Lady-in-Waiting, Rose Baring, sent two years after her visit, on November 25, 1985.

Joel Hamilton, sharing a picture of the letter with Telangana Today, said he was six years old and still has memories of the event, apart from what his father used to tell him and his brother about the royal visit.

               

“I remember a convoy with the British High Commissioner coming to our house in Sader Bazaar, Bolarum, with the High Commissioner sitting down and discussing with Dad on the service, step by step it was planned. There were rehearsals too,” he says, adding that Baring wrote in the letter that she was ‘commanded by the Queen to write and thank’ Rev Hamilton for the ‘good wishes’ he sent them on the occasion of their wedding anniversary, and that the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were ‘touched’ by his message.

The Queen, as she met the Presbyter at the Church, also presented him with a photographer of hers, signed by her, which the family still cherishes at their home in Sainikpuri.

“Those are proud memories, and we cherish them,” adds Joshua, who recalls their mother, Leela Grace Hamilton, and Rev Hamilton sharing all the stories connected to the visit several years later too.