JUNE 24, 1925, was a very special day for York.
It was the first visit of the new Duchess of York and her husband, Prince Albert, the Duke of York, to the city whose name they bore.
Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon had been the Duchess since she married two years before.
Her husband, the second son of King George V, went on to become king himself, and Elizabeth his queen.
To countless adoring subjects she was later better known, of course, as the Queen Mother.
But back in 1925, as these remarkable photographs show, she was a stylish and elegant young woman with a great sense of fashion.
The Duchess of York talks to Lady Bell outside the Minster
The Duchess was in York to unveil the Minster’s famous Five Sisters Window as a memorial to the women of the British Empire who gave their lives in the First World War.
The ancient 13th-century stained glass from the window had been removed for safekeeping during the war. It was then renovated and restored as a memorial.
There was a guard of honour of 150 men and women from the North Riding section of the British Red Cross Society on the day the Duke and Duchess came to town to unveil the window.
Our photograph above shows the Duchess talking to Lady Bell outside the Minster.
In the second photograph, below, she is shown walking with Archbishop Lang.
Our third photo shows the Duke inspecting the Guard of Honour outside the Mansion House. And finally we see the Duchess that same day talking to a patient at the county hospital. The matron, the caption informs us, was one Miss Steele.
* Pictures reproduced courtesy of the City of York Council’s Imagine York website, www.imagineyork.co.uk
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