The Queen Mother was deemed an honorary cockney yesterday by the people of the Barkantine Estate on the Isle of Dogs in the East End of London after she spent an afternoon chatting with locals and opening a memorial garden. The country’s favourite grandmother toured the grounds, which she first visited 66 years ago when she opened a block of flats there, for a full 30 minutes.
“It was marvellous to see her again,” said 83-year-old estate resident Leonard Goss. “She came to open the flats, and she came in the war. She is an honorary cockney. She seems to like the East End.”
Happy to see the 100-year-old royal, other elders told stories of her visit back in 1935. “I was only nine when she came last time, and I remember that she was all in lavender then, too,” said 75-year-old Doris Inkpen. “I didn’t get the chance to talk to her then, but today we spoke and she… looked pleased when we said we still lived there.”
Builders spent seven months turning a rose garden into a memorial honoring the London district’s workers as part of a £33 million regeneration project.
