In June 1960 Their Majesties King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit of Thailand embarked on an international tour of state visits taking in 13 European countries and the USA. The tour which took place between the 14th of June 1960 and the 18th of January 1961, included a visit to the UK lasting three days from the 19th of July 1960.

As the year 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of this Royal visit the Royal Thai Embassy, London, has marked the occasion by displaying of an exhibition of photographs and news paper reports related to the event in various Thai festivals throughout the summer and has published an accompanying book.

The Royal visit sparked high interest amongst the British press which paid particular attention to the beauty and style of Queen Sirikit. Images of both Their Majesties the King and Queen of Thailand made the front pages of the British tabloids and broadsheets across the three days of the visit.

The Daily Mirror front page featured images of the Queen over four consecutive days, describing Her Majesty as “Lovely”, “the fabulous Queen” and commenting on her “beaming smile”. The weekly publication, The Illustrated London News dated July 30th, 1960 also dedicated their entire cover to an image of the procession carrying their majesties from Victoria Station to Buckingham Palace.

While the commemorative album of the event compiled by the Royal Thai Embassy is not available for general retail, VeryThai is able to bring you a selection of images from the book online in our Facebook album.

To see footage from the visit you can also watch the specially commissioned video below: