The Queen of England was — on at least one occasion — informed that there was a drier, hotter, H-less town in South Texas named after the Edinburgh in her domain by an intrepid young reporter and Edinburg native who made a point of telling her as much during a royal visit to Texas some 30 years ago.
Queen Elizabeth II, who died Thursday at 96, was lying at rest in Edinburgh, Scotland on Monday. Her death has inspired remembrances from a variety of people, including current San Antonio Express-News Executive Editor Nora Lopez, who shamelessly used her hometown’s namesake as an icebreaker to chat with the queen at tea time.
“A girl from the Rio Grande Valley meeting the Queen of England is pretty special and pretty unique, and I have my hometown — Edinburg — to credit for my opportunity to meet her,” Lopez said.
The royal family was very briefly in Texas in 1991 for a tour of its larger cities.
Lopez, who was at the time the police reporter at the San Antonio Light, was assigned to listen to the scanner in case some sort of emergency happened.
She wasn’t precisely covering the visit itself, but her name wound up on a list somewhere, and before the royals arrived, Lopez received an invitation.
The queen evidently liked to visit with members of the press, and invited 100 or so of them — including Lopez — over for tea at the Austin Four Seasons Hotel.
“I remember thinking, this has to be a hoax,” Lopez said. “But it was a really thick stock paper, it was really fancy. So I checked and it was real.”
Lopez, on a cub reporter’s salary, went shopping and bought a dress. She kept the tags on and returned it later.
The day of the visit Lopez and some fellow reporters arrived to be cautioned on appropriate protocol. They found themselves at a pleasant little reception with snacks and an open bar.
The queen was running a little behind. Lopez drank no tea, but she did visit that open bar.
“By the time she showed up, I’d had two glasses of wine, I’m not gonna lie,” Lopez said. “And this is pertinent, because it gave me liquid courage.”
Then, finally, in walked the queen. She did not disappoint. Photos of her at the hotel that day show her in a floral dress and a yellow hat, gloves and shoes immaculately white, with a dazzling brooch pinned on her shoulder.
“She was elegant,” Lopez said.
The reporters and the name of their respective outlets were formally announced. Then the crowd broke up into small groups, socializing.
Lopez figured she had a golden opportunity, a conversation starter that couldn’t fail.
The queen, after all, ruled over Edinburgh in Scotland. Her husband, also in attendance, was even the Duke of Edinburgh. Why wouldn’t she be interested in the town’s H-less American cousin?
Wine-fortified, Lopez approached an aide and made her pitch. The aide said the queen probably would like to hear about Edinburg, Texas, and Lopez was introduced.
“She was so gracious,” Lopez remembers. “So interested in what I had to say. Asked questions about Edinburg. Just one of those types of people that when she’s looking at you and engaging with you makes you feel like you’re the most important person.”
The queen asked how large Edinburg was.
“Oh, it’s a small town,” Lopez replied. “Certainly not the cosmopolitan city that I know Edinburgh, in, um…” She suddenly drew a blank and stammered, which she blames on the wine.
“In Scotland?” the queen replied politely.
It turned into a charming little moment during the few minutes of conversation.
Lopez used the same trick to get a chat with the Duke of Edinburgh, who she remembers being mostly interested in the speaker’s gavel at the Texas capitol which he thought would be an appropriate pig killing implement.
It’s not clear how well appraised the queen was about there being an Edinburg in Texas before Lopez’s introduction.
Neither the Museum of South Texas History nor the city of Edinburg are aware of any interactions or visits, and, as a spokesperson for the city noted, the woman who would have been best equipped to answer that question would have been the queen herself.
