The Yorkshire Film Archive collects, preserves, and shows film made in, or about Yorkshire. Our collections are non-fiction, dating from the 1890s to the present day, and providing a rich and visually compelling record of all aspects of lives, cultures, landscape, industries, major events and everyday activities, many of which are available to watch, free of charge, on our website.
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Royal Visit to Halifax 1937
Five months into his reign the new King looks rather less comfortable than the Queen as they are greeted by crowds, and the Kangaroos Rugby League team with the Aboriginal War Cry.
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Overview
After a sedentary tour of Shibden Hall, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth are met by large cheering crowds, as well as having to greet countless local dignitaries. After the release of The King’s Speech, it is interesting to note just how much more at ease and smiling the Queen is in comparison with her husband as they visit Halifax soon after his coronation in 1937. They also get treated by Australian Rugby League Team to a performance of their now defunct Aboriginal War Cry.
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth are on something of a Yorkshire tour, having visited York the day before, as well as Bradford. George VI was regarded as a reluctant king after his brother Edward abdicated the previous December. He had engaged Lionel Logue to help with his stutter in October 1926, just before the first sound newsreels. After his death of coronary thrombosis in 1952, the queen mother survived her husband by an astonishing 50 years. At the time of the visit the Australian Rugby League team were on their Kangaroo Tour, of 31 games over 6 months. They had been using the Aboriginal War Cry, inspired by the New Zealand Haka, since 1908, but stopped in 1967 after a winless series against the French.
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