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On the day The Queen became the longest reigning British monarch, The News UK Archives team have put together a collection of photographs of the day she visited The Times.
On February 28, 1985 the Queen visited The Times accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh. As a matter of fact, the Queen visited The Times twice that day writes Anne Jensen.
The Queen was met at the front door by Mr Rupert Murdoch, chairman of Times Newspapers Ltd, and Mr Charles Douglas-Home (seen here next to the Queen), editor of The Times, who conducted the tour.
Jo Foley, executive editor, and David Tytler, deputy executive editor (Features) explain to the Queen how the feature pages are put together.
During the morning the Queen and the Duke toured the paper’s editorial departments where they met editors, journalists and photographers. Later they took part in the editorial conference where the forthcoming issue of the paper was discussed and planned. The royal couple then stayed for the leader writers’ conference where the deliberations on the paper’s editorial view on the issues of the moment were decided.
Above: Martin Sumner demonstrates the processing department function. Watching him closely is the manager Brian Harley.
Below: The royals with Bert Hurt, the foundry manager.
At 8.30pm the Queen and Prince Philip returned to The Times’ offices on Gray’s Inn Road to see the paper being printed. During this second visit the Queen and Prince Philip saw the work of the different departments responsible for the process of printing the paper. The royal couple also attended an informal reception before they watched the printing of the specially-printed Royal Edition for which The Queen started the presses at 10.12pm.
The Royal Edition
Due to the poor quality of newsprint caused by paper rationing during the First World War a specially robust edition was first published on July 2, 1917. This edition designed to withstand the extensive handling of the paper in public libraries. First called the Library Edition it changed its name to the Royal Edition on April 21, 1922. The edition was supplied to the monarch and major libraries. The last issue of the Royal Edition was published on December 31, 1969.
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