IN the summer of 1937 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth came to Glasgow, two months after his Coronation. The visit included a trip to Bellahouston Park, where work had scarcely begun on what would be the Empire Exhibition. The king unveiled a granite obelisk; all about him, flags marked the intended layout of some buildings and avenues and technical offices.
Bellahouston was transformed at breakneck speed so that when the royals returned for the official opening on May 3, 1938, what lay before them was, in the king’s admiring words, “a whole town of more than 100 palaces and pavilions”.
It was, said the Glasgow Herald, “a wonder city”. The one hundred buildings “caught the breath by their bold design and distinctive colouring, their broad facades and severe lines offset by cheerful tones and decorative murals, multi-coloured fountain displays, flower beds bright with blooms, and the summit of the site crowned by a 300-feet steel tower that epitomises the enterprising spirit of the Exhibition”.
All of Glasgow turned out that day, desperate to see the exhibition and to greet the royals. From early morning, the roads and the Underground were thronged with people making their way to Ibrox, where the opening ceremony was to take place. People were in a buoyant mood, exchanging smiles on the overcrowded Subway trains even as they accidentally tramped on one another’s toes. One particular conductor was a wit. “Anyone for Copland Road?” he asked with a straight face, referring to the station that served Ibrox.
After the opening ceremony, the king and queen arrived by landau at Bellahouston Park: the streets nearby were lined with enthusiastic people of all ages, waving flags and streamers (above). Many had been there for hours.
Inside Bellahouston, the first 50,000 visitors were already enjoying the exhibition, and heard a relay of the speeches from Ibrox.
The royal couple toured the palaces and the pavilions, impressed by the ingenious innovations and displays they saw. At one point, in the Women of Empire Pavilion, the king murmured to his wife: “I have never seen so much brilliance”.
The park was a endless tableau of activity. Police officers allowed roaming reporters to make their way through dense crowds to get a better view of proceedings. A man was photographed using an improvised megaphone (main image) to address a group of visitors who were hard of hearing.
The royals, shadowed by large crowds that dashed from one vantage-point to another, spent four hours at Bellahouston Park, visiting every section apart from the Amusement Park. After lunch at the Atlantic Restaurant they ascended to the top balcony of the Tower of Empire, from which they could see the wonder city in its entirety.
* Tomorrow: Gracie Fields at the Empire Exhibition
Read more: Herald Diary
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