August 16, 2000
Royal treatment
Traverse City students have close encounter with Queen of England
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
With church bells ringing and townsfolk gathered reverently on the streets, residents of the English city of York turned out to honor their queen.
Queen Elizabeth's first visit to the city in 12 years just happened to coincide with the itinerary of some Traverse City residents on a 16-day academic tour of the British Isles. When the American tourists learned the night before of the queen's planned visit to the nearby York Minster, they were determined to at least see her. In fact, tour leader Kathryn Mead promised her fellow travelers that if they got up early and waited with her at the church entrance for two hours they would see Queen Elizabeth.
Mead's promise bore unexpected fruit when one of their member, Lillian Evans, actually had a brief conversation with the monarch.
"The queen came out after the church service and was shaking hands of the people gathered outside," recalled Evans, who will be a senior at Traverse City West High School this fall. "I had leaned over to take a picture and we made eye contact. She came over and asked me where I was from. I said Michigan, in the United States, but she could probably tell from our accent."
Evans recalled being nonplussed during the exchange, but she still managed to carry her part.
"I couldn't stop shaking and I couldn't stop smiling," she said. "I felt so stupid after because I forgot to call her, 'Your Majesty.'"
Evans discovered from this meeting that underneath the trademark hats and stiff public image projected on television, the queen in person was a warm and pretty woman, who is gracious and poised.
"She was very petite and very pretty; on television she seems kind of cold and serious," said Evans, who was quickly pounced on by the British press after her conversation. "But she was smiling a lot and she had these really pretty eyes."
This up close and personal encounter with Queen Elizabeth became the one of the trip's highlights for Mead and her group of 18 high school and college students.
However, the group almost missed their chance when they turned to go after the queen went into the church. Then a bobby (an English policeman) advised them to stay because the queen planned to walk around and greet the crowd after the service.
The additional wait was worth it.
"It was incredible to be there when she came out of the church and did a walk-about," said Abby Pavlov, a Northwestern Michigan College student also on the trip. "There was such a presence there and a huge excitement in the crowd. Our group was so giddy afterward we took a big picture of all of us."
Mead, as a history teacher, found the chance to see a member of the royal family in person and sense the response of the crowd to the queen almost indescribable. She recalled feeling part of a timeless, Medieval ceremony, as every church bell in the city rang for more than an hour and people gathered so respectfully to greet the queen.
"The whole visit was just very, very timeless," said Mead, a history and English teacher at West High School. "The whole thing, historically for me as a history teacher, was amazing, but I could never truly recreate it for my students back home. The kids who were there will never forget it."
Evans agreed with that assessment: "Meeting the queen was the highlight of a lifetime."