HAERE RĀ, YOUR MAJESTY

We welcomed our Queen with open arms

Queen Elizabeth made 10 trips to our shores during her 70year reign, the last during her Golden Jubilee tour in 2002.

Her appearance in the summer of 1953-54 marked the first-ever visit from a sovereign, and Kiwis turned out in droves to see the young Queen and her husband Prince Philip. "They were greeted with a frenzy that is hard to imagine today," former prime minister David Lange recalled in 2005. "The enthusiasm of the public was near universal and certainly demonstrative."

On the first day, the royal couple travelled up Auckland's Queen Street in an open-topped car to the cheers of thousands. It's estimated they shook 300 hands on that day alone. From there, the Queen visited 46 centres and attended 100 functions.

They returned in 1963 and the Queen used te reo Māori phrases in her speech at Waitangi, which observed the 123rd anniversary of the signing of the Treaty.