Queen recalls protest at wild university
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth has spoken to a student at Sterling University about her visit to Scotland where pupils protested and heckled her in 1972.Britain’s Queen Elizabeth has spoken to a student at Sterling University about her visit to Scotland where pupils protested and heckled her in 1972.
The 88-year-old monarch met student Ben Butcher, 20, at a recent garden party at Buckingham Palace, where he was honoured for a project he did involving UK water pipes, and asked him: “Is Stirling still as wild as it was?”
He later told The Daily Mirror newspaper: “She said she’s been there in the past and it’s a little wild. I said, ‘No, it’s very tranquil, very beautiful.”
During the 400-strong protest the Queen was booed and sworn at by drunk students who screamed at her to “go home”.
The students were protesting about her visit, which had cost £1,200, as they felt the money should have been spent on paying for better facilities at the university.
The rally was the worst reception the monarch has ever received in Britain and 24 students were reportedly disciplined after the protest, with police describing the demonstrators’ behaviour on October 12, 1972 as “disgusting”.
Detectives from the Special Branch were forced to come to her aid and the mob was described in the national press as “frightening”.
