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In 1968, Eve Arnold accompanied Queen Elizabeth II on a two-day tour of the northwest of England. The trip became a continuation of the stories on Britain that Arnold had begun in 1961, and this image of the Queen surrounded by crowds in Cheshire became the cover image of her book In Britain, published in 1991. Looking back on this particular trip, Arnold wrote: “It was raining — what is known in Britain as “Queen’s weather.” (It rained on her coronation.) She looked very pretty in her blue, brimless hat (brimless so people could see her face) and her open-toed shoes (to keep her comfortable). One wonders how she must have felt about the bowlers and the bunting, the wigs and the medals, the endless being on display, but she was animated, and people cheered and smiled. For me it was a spectacle for the camera, and I photographed everything from the sweeping of the red carpet to her press secretary’s checking off her itinerary, from the official who consulted her stopwatch to make sure she was punctual to her final departure on her royal plane.”
