Over her lifetime, the United Kingdom's canals have seen great changes, from the gradual fading of their use as freight routes and subsequent decline, to their rebirth for leisure boating and as cherished wildlife and wellbeing spaces.
Her Majesty visited the waterways a number of times over the course of her reign, taking in the Leeds & Liverpool Canal as part of her Diamond Jubilee tour in 2012 and the National Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port in 1979. She officially reopened the restored Kennet & Avon Canal in 1990, boarding the narrow boat ‘Rose of Hungerford' at the canal's famous Caen Hill Flight, where a lock is named in her honour.
