The Sunday Times May 29, 2022 3
grandparents voted to remain British in
a 1967 referendum at a time when Spain’s
General Franco had designs on the Rock.
Two years after the referendum,
Franco closed the border in an attempt
to throttle Gibraltar’s economy. They
were tough times, but this community
endured and ultimately thrived.
Now, with the border reopened,
communities on either side enjoy strong
social, cultural and economic links,
despite Spain’s ongoing aspirations over
the Rock’s sovereignty.
The jubilee celebrations and the
royal visit from June 7 to 9 come at
a time when the UK — with Gibraltar
— and the EU are hammering out
a treaty for the Rock’s post-Brexit
relations with the bloc. Like
Northern Ireland, Gibraltar shares a
land border with the EU, and fluidity
is key. The goal is to create a framework
for shared prosperity that respects each
party’s red lines on sovereignty and
guarantees a free-flowing border.
These are challenging times for
Gibraltar, but Brexit has strengthened
the bond between Britain and the Rock,
despite the fact that 96 per cent of
people here voted Remain in the 2016
referendum. Those ties were perhaps
never clearer than during the height of
the pandemic, when the UK’s support
enabled Gibraltar to rapidly vaccinate
the vast majority of its population.
For many Gibraltarians, the jubilee
will be a time to move on from the
politics and trauma of the past two years
to remember the Queen’s incredible life.
Among them is Jessica Russo, 59, who
grew up in Gibraltar and is proud to be
British. As a child, her father would take
her and her sister to London to watch
Trooping the Colour; years later they
returned for the Diamond Jubilee
celebrations in 2012.
Next week she will be cheering the
Queen alongside her sister and cousins
at the Platinum Jubilee events in
London. Russo will be at Buckingham
Palace on Saturday for the BBC’s
Platinum Party. She broke her ankle
recently, but nothing will hold her back.
“Three weeks ago, we decided to go,”
Russo said. “It’s truly a once-in-a-
lifetime event.”T
ucked into a corner of the
Convent, the governor’s
official residence, the
Gibraltar National Archives is
a hive of activity. For almost
two hours I sit with the archivist Anthony
Pitaluga discussing the exhibition that he
and his small team are planning, in which
the Queen’s first and only visit to the Rock
in 1954 will feature prominently.
A short stroll away, Gibraltar’s Main
Street — the pedestrian artery that cuts
through the heart of town — is decked
out in Union Jack bunting. Framed
by bright Med skies, it’s a colourful
reminder of Gibraltar’s firm ties
with Britain — though this is a place
of multiple cultures and languages,
with roots stretching far across the
Mediterranean and Commonwealth.
A key part of the festivities will be
the “Jubilita” on Thursday — the annual
Calentita Food Festival given a royalist
spin (calentita is the traditional local dish
made from chickpea flour). Focused on
three of Gib’s city squares — the Theatre
Royal Square, John Mackintosh Square
and Campion Park — the free event will
celebrate the different eras of the Queen’s
reign with offerings such as “bollitos de
coronation chicken” (coronation chicken
bread rolls) and “platinum pinchitos”
(meat skewers made by the Moroccan
Community Association). According to
the organiser Owen Smith, the festival is
a celebration through food of Gibraltar’s
unique brand of Britishness. “We are
really looking forward to bringing
together the entire community,” he said.
That lone visit by the Queen in 1954
is seared on the collective memory.
Residents still talk fondly of it. “If only
she had visited again,” is a common
refrain. Pitaluga, who has spent months
preparing for the exhibition, described
how Gibraltar celebrated the young
Queen’s presence, seen at the time as one
of the greatest days in the Rock’s history.
Now, 68 years later, her son, Prince
Edward, Earl of Wessex, and his wife,
Sophie, Countess of Wessex, will again
follow in the Queen’s footsteps with
their second official visit to Gibraltar.
Gibraltarians are staunchly British and
this loyalty runs deep across generations.
We grew up learning how our parents andThe people
of Gibraltar
are fiercely
British and
this loyalty
runs deep
across
generations
Gibraltar’s
Windsor
Suspension
Bridge; above,
the Rock is ready
to celebrate
the jubileeUnder Mediterranean skies jubilee fervour is growing
in this staunchly British state, says Gabriella Peralta
PETER DAZELEY/GETTY IMAGES; JUAN ANTONIO SANCHEZ/ALAMYGIBRALTAR
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