It was the privilege of many Fellows and Members of the College over the years to meet Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in the course of her work for charities (she was formally associated with no fewer than three hundred), her activities as chancellor of the University of London, and her visits to countless hospitals and other medical institutions. Sick people were comforted by her presence. Her combination of dignity with charm, deriving as it did from an awareness and enjoyment of her privileges, while being committed to the responsibilities they entailed, was unfailingly appealing.

Queen Elizabeth's specific association with the College itself began when she laid the foundation stone of its fifth home, in Regent's Park, on 6 March 1962. She was elected to the honorary Fellowship the following month (26 April) and subsequently dined at the College with Fellows and Members on 2 December 1970 and 12 November 1974. She visited on a third occasion on 12 March 1987.

Ian McDonald