Greater Glasgow has witnessed few more memorable royal visits by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II than the day Her Royal Highness arrived to launch the Clyde-built ocean liner named in her honour: the QE2.
On September 20, 1967, our late Queen had millions of viewers glued to their television sets as the live coverage of the historic launch at John Brown's shipyard in Clydebank got underway. Huge crowds assembled with flags waving and voices cheering as Her Majesty prepared to press the button to send the 293-metre-long ship into the water.
In these precious photographs, kindly sent in to us by Eric Armstrong, we gain an idea of the scale of the occasion as throngs of people push forward to get a front row view of the proceedings. But, as often happens during such momentous occasions, everything did not go quite as smoothly as Cunard chiefs would have hoped.
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Initially, all was fine with the 2.30pm launch. The Queen cut the ribbon and smashed a bottle of ceremonial champagne to christen the glorious £30 million liner, RMS Queen Elizabeth II. Then came 70 seconds of nerves and anxiety, as the 58,000-ton ship refused to budge.
In typical Glasgow style, a small section of the crowd began the tongue-in-cheek chant "we shall not be moved".
The Daily Mirror reported: "Workmen high up on her deck leaned over and shouted: 'Give her a shove!' Shipyard director George Parker joined in with the spirit of the request.
"Bowler-hatted, he sprang to the bows and gave the liner a shove. And jubilantly waved his bowler when, by coincidence, she began to move.
Great cheers rose up as the QE2 elegantly slid into the water, where she was met by a small flotilla of tugs to guide her towards the fitting-out berth.
"May God bless her, and all who sail in her," declared Her Majesty to a rapturous applause from the crowd.
While there was much jubilance in the shipyard and in millions of homes up and down the country, members of the Scottish National Party took a more critical view. Many took offence to the name of the new ship, stating that Elizabeth I was never Queen of Scotland.
"It is a secondhand name for a first-class ship," said the Scottish National Party.
Years in the making, the QE2 was constructed by an army of workers of the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders in Clydebank at the John Brown shipyard. Her keel was laid in 1965.
The Cunard Line-operated liner would go on to notch up more than 5.9 million nautical miles during her many decades of service. She carried an estimated 2.5 million passengers and made 804 voyages across the Atlantic Ocean.
In 2008, the QE2 completed a final tour, visiting Greenock on the Clyde, before being moved permanently to Dubai where she is now a floating luxury hotel.
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