How Major Monarchy Milestones Coincided With Wolves Events

We could not let this big Bank Holiday week go without a royal connection in our posts, so how about these links between big occasions in The Queen’s life and distant historic dates on the Molineux calendar. We arrowed in on some of her momentous days of the past, decided to use names and titles the central characters became known by over the years and saw what was happening at the same time much closer to home….

April 21, 1926: The Queen was born. Three days later came this result in Division Two: Darlington 3 Wolves 4, with Harry Scott, Tom Phillipson and Harry Lees (2) scoring and Phillipson having netted a brace in a win at home to Port Vale the previous Saturday.

November 20, 1947: The Queen’s wedding to the Duke of Edinburgh at Westminster Abbey. On the 22nd, Wolves won 3-1 at Preston thanks to goals by Willie Forbes, Angus McLean and Jesse Pye.

November 14, 1948: The birth of Prince Charles was preceded, by a single day, by Wolves losing 2-1 at Stoke despite a goal from Sammy Smyth – a man later to play for the Potters.

August 15, 1950: A daughter for the royal couple and Anne’s arrival came in a happy Wolves week. They beat Liverpool at Molineux on the 19th thanks to goals by Billy Crook and Roy Swinbourne.

February 6, 1952: The most recent date on which a king reigned over the Commonwealth…The Queen’s reign started at the age of 25 with her father’s death and Wolves drew 0-0 at home to Huddersfield on the 9th.

February 19, 1960: The arrival of Prince Andrew is followed a day later by Wolves winning 4-1 at Luton in the fifth round of the FA Cup and moving a step closer to a possible meeting with royalty at the Wembley final.

March 10, 1964: A Molineux thrashing of Birmingham came three days before the birth of Prince Edward. The 5-1 First Division swamping was built on goals by Terry Wharton (2), Ray Crawford, Ron Flowers and Dick Le Flem.

November 15, 1977: The birth of Peter Phillips, the Queen’s first grandchild, came a few months after Wolves’ brief Second Divison stay and in between satisfactory First Division results against Newcastle at home (won 1-0) and Middlesbrough away (drew 0-0).

March 30, 2002: The death of the Queen Mother was announced on a Saturday evening as we travelled home from a 3-2 Wolves victory at Burnley during the latter weeks of the promotion head-to-head with Albion.

December 29, 2010: The birth of The Queen’s first great grandchild, Savannah Phillips, came on the day Wolves pulled off a momentous win at Liverpool – one secured by a Stephen Ward goal.

April 9, 2021: Another major event, this time the death of the Duke of Edinburgh, fell on a successful Wolves match day. This time Craven Cottage was the setting as Adama Traore’s late goal saw off Fulham.