Derby County:Pride Park gives Queen a rousing welcome

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AS both princess and Queen, HRH made numerous visits to Derby. But none, surely, was more memorable than July 18, 1997, when she broke new ground (literally) for royal engagements by officially opening Pride Park – her first football stadium.

After more than a century at the crumbling Baseball Ground, everyone in the city was thrilled about it, especially the thousands of Derby County fans whose team had finally found a new home magnificent enough to complement their recent arrival in the Premier League.

The club, at that time, was in the hands of the popular and charismatic manager Jim Smith and the totally committed local owner and chairman Lionel Pickering.

For two hard-nosed men who had seen pretty well everything in their careers – one as one of the oldest football managers in the top league and the other as a reporter-turned-newspaper owner – it was, both would later admit, one of the highlights of their lives.

It was a perfect summer’s day when Her Majesty walked out of “the tunnel” and took her first step onto Derby’s hallowed turf.

Dressed in buttercup yellow and accompanied by Pickering and vice-chairman, Peter Gadsby, the surprise was her stunned reaction as the whole stadium erupted in a tremendous crescendo of clapping and cheers.

Having been told not to stand up when she arrived, 30,000 people could not stop themselves paying the usual good-mannered tribute to royalty by rising to their feet.

Later, Lionel Pickering said: “It was a tremendous, totally unexpected reaction as people gave her a real Derby welcome. She did look quite taken aback, which is surprising when you think she really must have seen everything over all those years.

“But I don’t think she had ever quite been in such a position before. It must have been the same feeling a footballer experiences when he first appears out of the tunnel at Wembley at the beginning of the Cup Final.”

After the formalities, it was time for the Queen and Prince Philip to step onto the back of a specially-adapted Range Rover and drive around the edge of the ground, acknowledging the tens of thousands of people there.

And that produced a moment of embarrassment for Jim Smith which he will remember all his life.

Invited with Pickering to join the royal couple in the back of the 4x4, he spontaneously put out his hand to take the Queen’s arm and help her mount the steep step.

It isn’t written in stone, but it is an unwritten rule that you do not touch the Queen unless she holds out her hand to you.

Afterwards Smith said: “It was a moment I will always remember because it was natural for a man to help a lady in that way and I just never thought, until it was too late. Afterwards, I went into a hot sweat but, fortunately, nothing was said and no-one made me feel awkward.”

Later Peter Gadsby also had a moment of embarrassment when he was introducing Prince Philip, renowned for his off-the-cuff comments, to the Derby team players.

Gadsby had just arrived at the two newest signings, Italians Stefano Eranio and Ciccio Baiano, who had yet to take to the field and become familiar and popular “star” players.

When he momentarily faltered while introducing them, the Prince burst into laughter and hooted: “You’ve forgotten their bloody names.”

Another impromptu moment came just as the Queen was about to leave the stadium.

As they were walking towards the tunnel, Lionel Pickering pointed out two elderly gentlemen whom, he said, she had once watched play football in their younger days.

She seemed surprised until he explained that they were Reg Harrison and Jimmy Bullions, who had been part of the Derby County squad who beat Fulham in the final of the FA Cup at Wembley in 1946, and that she had been there, accompanying her parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mum).

It was, it seems, the first football match she had seen and she was delighted to accept Pickering’s invitation to meet them.

That threw the clock-watching royal organizers into a panic for, firstly, the Queen never ever changed from a pre-destined route and, secondly, unless it was a walkabout, she did not speak to people unless it had been pre-arranged.

It was a change of plan which made their day for the old players and was obviously enjoyed by the Queen.

Said Reg: “She seemed very interested and chatted for a moment. We, of course, were over the moon.”

Jimmy Bullions, whose father had been a Scottish amateur international, was on the receiving end of another jocular remark from the Duke.

When Jimmy commented that Scotland did not seem to have such good players as they used to, the royal retort was: “It’s not surprising – they’ve all come down here.”

It was a memorable day for Derby and also for football fans and few of them are perhaps aware that before she set off for her next engagement, the Queen heard about the Ram mascot and how important it was to Derby and the team.

It was the duty of the chairman’s wife, Marcia Pickering, to make a farewell presentation to the Queen and she had had a diamond-encrusted brooch, in the shape of a ram, made especially for the occasion.

But she was determined that, before it was passed to a lady-in-waiting for safe-keeping, the Queen would know exactly what the gift represented.

So, as she handed it over, Marcia quickly opened the presentation box to show Her Majesty the contents and explain its significance to the club.

“I didn’t just want it to be put aside or end up in storage without her being aware how important that ram was to so many people,” she said.

An avid fan and club supporter, Marcia always took great pride in the fact that she had made sure the Queen knew about the Derby Ram.

After opening the stadium, the Queen went on alone to visit the Royal School for the Deaf and Derbyshire Children’s Hospital while the Duke went, once more, to Rolls-Royce.

The couple lunched together at Rolls-Royce and then left for engagements at Hardwick Hall and Bolsover.

Five years later, the Queen was to return to Derby and Pride Park as part of her nationwide Jubilee tour.

Sadly, Marcia Pickering was not there to ask if the Queen had liked her Rams’ brooch. She had died of motor neurone disease two years earlier.

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