Leeds nostalgia: Queen visits new look art gallery

Wakefield, 26th November 1982

Enthusiastic crowds lean forward to greet the Queen during her visit to the Wakefield pedestrian precinct today. — Wakefield, 26th November 1982 Enthusiastic crowds lean forward to greet the Queen during her visit to the Wakefield pedestrian precinct today.

Two Queens visited Leeds in 1982 - one was the band of the same name, which played Elland Road on May 29 of that year but it was Queen Elizabeth II who visited in November, as part of a wider tour of the surrounding area.

Our picture shows Her Majesty gleefully greeting crowds of well-wishers on the streets of Wakefield, looking as radiant and happy as she ever has.

The precise date was November 26 and the location was Wakefield’s pedestrian precinct.

The following day, she came to Leeds and was shown around the new look Leeds Art Gallery by Yorkshire born sculptor Henry Moore.

During the tour, she was shown an exhibit of policing 1940s-style by Chief Constable Ronald Gregory, at which point a happy coincidence occurred, for there in the picture above her, in amongst the sandbags and warnings to looters, was a picture of the Queen’s father inspecting war damage.

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