Came across this BBC News article that shows 1970s/1980s photos of Queen Elizabeth taking pictures. I recognised her camera – a Rollei 35, the type made in Rollei’s Singapore factory in the 1970s.
The Queen had visited Singapore in 1972, and I wondered if we could have presented her the camera. A Google check of the NLB archives confirmed this – President Sheares had indeed presented the Queen, her husband, and her daughter, gold-plated Rollei cameras as state gifts. (http://bit.ly/2mJKAVg) The wonders of the internet!
The Rollei factory in Kampong Chai Chee was an important project in our industrial development. EDB had persuaded the famous German company to make cameras and lenses here. It provided thousands of jobs, and gave our workers skills which were later very useful in helping us to do precision engineering and wafer fabs.
The BBC story was for the Queen’s platinum wedding anniversary with Prince Philip. They married 70 (!) years ago today, on 20 Nov 1947. Many congratulations to both of them! – LHL
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