Stories such as Dar Churcher’s tell us as much. On 8 June, 1959, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visited the Submarine Command, in Gosport, where Mr Churcher’s father, Walter “Bob” Churcher, a petty officer in the Royal Canadian Navy, was training to become a submariner. When a photograph of the encounter appeared in the Portsmouth Evening News, there was high excitement. Many copies were bought and sent around the world. It was the proudest day of Bob’s life.
