Queen Elizabeth II visits Crawley

Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II was in Crawley today to mark the town’s 60th anniversary – Her Majesty was accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh.

Although the area around the town has been inhabited by people for several centuries, the town of Crawley itself came into being after the New Towns Act of 1946 was introduced.

Several thousand people turned out to see the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh - waving flags they cheered as the Royal couple arrived at Queen’s Square to greet town officials and other local prominent officials.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visited the County Mall where they met local business people.

In the later hours of the morning the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh moved on to visit the Thomas Bennett community college, where the Queen’s visit to the town was cut short because of her continuing back problems – the Duke of Edinburgh however, stayed to complete the full planned programme of engagements and later visited Varian Medical Systems and Carey House, the local sheltered housing scheme.