The Queen’s most memorable Bristol visits over the years

Over her 70-year reign, Queen Elizabeth II visited Bristol on several memorable occasions.

In April 1956, just four years after she became Queen, the monarch travelled to Bristol with the Duke of Edinburgh.

Arriving by train at Temple Meads, the Queen visited St Mary Redcliffe church before being driven along crowd-lined streets to the Albion Dockyard in Cumberland Road and then the opening of the new Council House (now City Hall).

Ten years later in 1966, the Queen was back in the area for the grand opening of the Severn Bridge, connecting England and Wales.

In her Jubilee year of 1977, the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh underwent a three-day tour of the West Country, which included a carriage procession in Bristol.

The carriage travelled from Temple Meads through Queen Square, over Redcliffe Bridge and past the pealing bells of St Mary Redcliffe church.

After appearances in Keynsham and Weston, she opened the new £38m Royal Portbury Dock at Avonmouth and then travelled in a glass-topped Rolls Royce along the motorway to Filton High School for a 20-minute walkabout in front of thousands of well-wishers.

Eight years later, in July 1985, Queen Elizabeth II returned to Bristol to visit the SS Great Britain, where she explored Brunel’s famous ship and opened the museum’s maritime heritage centre.

The Queen experienced cake-making, bricklaying and hip-hop dance during a visit to Bristol in February 2005.

The monarch was touring The Park in Knowle West, an ex-school building used for youth development projects and small businesses.

On the same visit, she opened the Bristol Laboratory for Advanced Dynamics Engineering at the University of Bristol.

It was another seven years before the Queen returned to the city but her November 2012 visit started early on a wet and windy day.

Arriving by train at Temple Meads, she was driven in her Bentley Limousine to Ashton for a visit to Bailey Caravans factory, where she was given a guided tour of one of the firm’s motorhomes.

The monarch then made her way to King Street for her first visit to the Bristol Old Vic where she and husband Prince Phillip watched a performance of Peter Pan.

Later that day, the Queen visited the M Shed museum, where she had lunch with Police Commissioner Sue Mountstevens, and then carried on her engagements at The Gatehouse Centre in Hartcliffe, where she unveiled a plaque.