RUPA Huq MP highlighted the Queen’s historic ties to Ealing, Acton and Chiswick, including a 1985 visit to open Ealing Broadway shopping centre.
She was speaking at an extraordinary sitting of the House of Commons on Saturday.
“For locals my age,” said the Ealing Central and Acton MP, “it will always be 1985 that we remember. It felt as though half [my] school had bunked off for it — except square old me.
“Many classmates who pulled a sickie got rumbled when the teacher saw them on the evening news, but she could not get too cross.”
News footage of the Queen’s visit can be viewed here. Ms Huq said: “I was 13, but it was a big deal. My older sister still remembers it vividly”.
In her tribute, Ms Huq, who attended a Buckingham Palace garden party in May and dozens of Platinum Jubilee street parties, also referred to the 1977 Jubilee Street Party she attended.
“I remember my five-year-old mind being blown by the fact that I was sitting eating cake in the middle of Pitshanger Lane,” she said.
The Queen’s visit to Gunnersbury Park for the Golden Jubilee in 2002 was her last visit to the area.
Ms Huq recounted how the then Mayor of Ealing, Kieron Gavan, who lunched with the Queen that day, asked Her Majesty if she was ever tempted to take the head off someone she didn’t like while knighting them.
She replied it would be inappropriate, but she might nick the neck a tiny bit if they were particularly irritating.
On Sunday (11), the MP attended the Proclamation of King Charles III outside Ealing Town Hall alongside fellow Ealing MPs Virendra Sharma and James Murray, as well as councillors of all parties.
Borough of Ealing residents are welcome to sign a Book of Condolence at Ealing Town Hall, which is open to the public between 9am and 10pm.
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