PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS – After the recent passing of Queen Elizabeth II, many residents are recollecting the royal visit to Southern Africa in 1947. One such is Plett resident Dr Viktor Hesse, who was a young boy living in Zeerust in North West Province at the time.
When his father heard that the royal train coming from Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) would be stopping at Lobatse (then Bechuanaland), he thought it the ideal opportunity for his family to see the visiting royals, King George VI, Queen Elizabeth and princesses Margaret and Elizabeth – later to become Queen Elizabeth II.
Hesse's father was a German-language teacher at the Zeerust Finishing School. Two years after the end of World War II, he "decided to attend the function that entertained the royals from England," says Viktor. He drove Viktor and the family the 60km to Lobatse.
Viktor, along with a number of other children, was herded into an enclosure for children prepared for the royal walk-past at a stadium close to Lobatse station, where the "gleaming white royal train" had pulled in.
"As the royal party passed, some children and I were invited to join them as they walked in the stadium," says Hesse. "I shook hands with all of them and when they left I said 'Goodbye'. I don't know whether I addressed them as 'Your Majesty'."
The story about his royal encounter was forgotten until last week when Queen Elizabeth II, whom Hesse describes as having performed her responsibilities with "energy and graciousness", died.
"Even my grandchildren weren't aware of my story and they were surprised when I recalled the event," he says.
The family of Hesse's wife Gretchen (née Schweickerdt) also had an encounter with the royal family in 1947 in Pretoria.
The Shweickerdts, a prominent art gallery family, arranged for a special Pierneef painting, Twin Peaks in Stellenbosch, to be placed above the bed of the king and queen.
Says Gretchen, "They even remarked on the beautiful painting".
Hesse, who was chairman of the council of the University of Pretoria, has also met another luminary: Nelson Mandela. This happened in 1995 when Mandela received an honorary doctorate from the University of Pretoria.
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