There has been a lot of talk about royal visits here in Southern California lately, so it feels like the perfect time to open the vault and take a look back at royals visiting Disneyland park through the years. There have been many photos taken in the last 56 years of various kings, queens, princes and princesses, and here are some of the most interesting – some of them being shared for the very first time.
One of the first heads of state to visit us was Mohammed V, King of Morocco, in 1957, shown here with Walt Disney at Sleeping Beauty Castle.
In 1959, King Hussein of Jordan made his first visit to Disneyland park. He’s shown here touring Tomorrowland, and yes, that is the Matterhorn Bobsleds taking shape behind him. He returned to the park decades later with his wife, the American-born Queen Noor and their son, Prince Hamzah.
Fast-forward to 1995 when Sarah, Duchess of York, took Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenia on Alice in Wonderland.
Princess Christina of Sweden stopped at City Hall to sign our guest book with a little help from Pinocchio during a 1972 visit.
Princess Margrethe of Denmark, pictured here (center) outside Frontierland, came to see us in 1960. She ascended the throne as the first female Danish sovereign 12 years later, and she reigns as Queen Margrethe II of Denmark to this day.
Princess Anne, Princess Royal of Great Britain, is shown walking through New Orleans Square in this 1984 photo.
Finally, a personal favorite of mine shows Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, riding our newest attraction at the time, Adventure Through Inner Space with his children, Princess Caroline and the recently-wed Prince Albert, in 1967.
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Nice pictures! Are there also pictures of Dutch royalty visiting the park? I know that at least Prince Bernard has visited the park.
How cool is this?! I love it! Thank you for the post!
Lovely! I’m curious if Princess Grace was along for Rainier’s trip to Disneyland. Was she?
OMG, the best picture is the one with the view of the Matterhorn being built, that is SO COOL!
What a fantastic posting. I would love to hear more about heads of state that have visited the happiest place on earth.
I recall when Princess Diana visited Walt Disney World with her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry. I seem to remember a photo taken of them on Splash Mountain. Correct?
I liked this post…but would have loved it even more if there were more photo’s of Walt with Royalty at Disneyland 🙂
Not royalty, but there’s the famous story of how Nikita Khruschev, on his 1959 American tour, had particular hopes of taking his wife and kids to that new American icon, Disneyland. Security eventually declared that his family could be allowed to go, but Khruschev himself was too much of a high security risk, and the visit was eventually canceled.
To Nikita, this was one of the greatest insults of the entire tour, and may have chillied the Cold War–For the rest of the trip, throughout Hollywood and California, he would reportedly tell anyone who listened, “they wouldn’t let me into Disneyland!”
(According to legend, Walt was so amused by the compliment, he considered a movie storyline about “what if Khruschev tried to sneak into Disneyland in disguise for a day?”)
What a fabulous posting! How interesting to see all of these historical royals on their Disney visits! Thank you!!
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