Queen Elizabeth II left an impression everywhere she went, including Quebec – Montreal | Globalnews.ca

Queen Elizabeth II was no stranger to Quebec, having visited the province many times during her years of service.

Those who have met her over the years say that she has left a strong impression.

The queen died Thursday at the age of 96 after serving more than 70 years, the longest of any British monarch.

Bruce Bolton is one of the few Montrealers who can boast of having met the queen not once, but several times.

He remembers it fondly.

“My experiences with the queen go back to Expo 67,” the retired military officer told Global News.

The queen attended the Expo 67 World Fair in Montreal for the country’s centenary. Bolton was a 16-year-old student who worked at the military museum on Île Sainte-Hélène.

“We were an honor guard and she inspected us,” he recalls. “She inspected the front row and I happened to be in the front row.”

The next time the monarch came to Montreal was for the 1976 Olympics, where Princess Anne competed as part of the British equestrian team.

Bolton met her again on this visit when she was still working at the military museum.

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“We trained an honor guard at the Hélène de Champlain restaurant on Île Sainte-Hélène, where she and (Prince) Philip went for lunch,” she said.

Bolton also met the queen as an adult, but what he says struck him in meeting him as a child was her kindness.

“He obviously loved talking to young people and was encouraging,” she said.

When he met her much more recently in Scotland, he got the same impression.

“I call her ‘Nonna Elisabetta’,” he said with a smile. “She acted like a grandmother.”

He pointed out that the queen continued to impress him throughout his reign and is not surprised that people of his generation mourn his loss so deeply.