Diamond Jubilee: Queen in Wales in 1960s

To mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, we look back into the BBC Wales archives for some moments from the last 60 years and visits to Wales.

The occasion of the Queen and Prince Philip's visit to Wales in 1966 was not one of celebration and flag waving but of mourning following a disaster which sent shock waves of horror and disbelief around the world.

On 21 October 1966, a coal waste tip above the mining village of Aberfan near Merthyr Tydfil slipped down the mountainside engulfing the Pantglas Junior school and neighbouring houses, killing 116 children and 28 adults.

The royal couple arrived in the village a week after the disaster to pay their respects to the people who died and offer condolences to the grieving.

The Queen has returned to the village on a number of occasions in the 46 years since the tragedy happened.

It was not the first time the Queen had been in Wales in the decade.

At the start of the new decade in 1960, she had paid a visit to Cardiff to visit Llandaff Cathedral mark the restoration of the Norman building after it was damaged during a bombing raid in World War II.

As the 1960s drew to a close, the Queen was back in Wales, this time in the north west at Caernarfon.

More than 4,000 people were at Caernarfon Castle on 1 July 1969 for the investiture of Prince Charles as the Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester.

There was a worldwide television audience of 500 million people watching the event, including 19 million in Britain. A further 90,000 were on the streets of the town.

It was the largest audience ever gained for an event in Wales, so for many people it would be all they knew about the country.

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