During 1977, the Queen's Silver Jubilee in year, the Queen and Prince Philip travelled an estimated 56,000 miles, from the Antipodes to the Caribbean, and were greeted by cheering, flag-waving crowds everywhere.

If 1977 was the most demanding - and rewarding - period for royal visits abroad, the other years of the decade also proved to be busy for the Queen and the Duke. In early 1972, for example, the royal couple and Princess Anne, then 21 years old, travelled to Singapore and Malaysia. In May of the same year the Queen, the Duke and Prince Charles visited France, which gave the Queen the chance to pay her respects to her terminally-ill uncle, the Duke of Windso. There were trips to Mexico and Japan in 1975 and a visit to the US for the bicentennial celebrations. 

Arguably the most important state visit of the decade, however, came in February 1979, when the Queen travelled to the oil-producing nations of Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman in a royal tour that strengthened Anglo-Arab relationships at a time when rising oil prices were leading to industrial unrest in the UK. She is pictured (above) talking to the Amir of Bahrain during a horse- and camel-racing spectacle.

The Queen's State Visits and Commonwealth Visits: 1970s

2-3 March 1970 Canada (Ottawa for refuelling and Vancouver for overnight stop)
4-5 March 1970 Fiji
7 March 1970 Tonga1
2-30 March 1970 New Zealand
30 March - 3 May 1970 Australia (NSW, Tasmania, Victoria, Queensland)
3 May 1970 Fiji (refuelling)
3-4 May 1970 Canada (Vancouver and Gander for refuelling)
5-15 July 1970 Canada (Northwest Territories and Manitoba)
3-12 May 1971 Canada (British Columbia)
18-25 October 1971 Turkey, visiting President Sunay
10-15 February 1972 Thailand, visiting King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit
18-20 February 1972 Singapore
22-26, 28 February 1972 Malaysia
29 February 1972 Brunei
2 March 1972 Malaysia
5 March 1972Singapore
6, 8 March 1972 Malaysia
13-14 March 1972 Maldives, visiting President Nasir
19-20 March 1972 Seychelles
24-26 March 1972 Mauritius
26 March 1972 Kenya (Nairobi)
15-19 May 1972 France, visiting President Pompidou`
17-21 October 1972 Yugoslavia, visiting President Tito
25 June - 5 July 1973 Canada (Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Regina, Calgary)
31 July - 4 August 1973 Canada (Ottawa - Commonwealth Conference)
15 October 1973 Canada (Vancouver for refuelling)
16-17 October 1973 Fiji
17-22 October 1973 Australia (ACT and Sydney for the opening of the opera house)
23 October 1973 Singapore (refuelling)
27 January 1974 Canada (Ottawa and Vancouver for refuelling)
28-29 January 1974 Cook Islands (opening of Rarotonga International Airport)
30 January - 8 February 1974 New Zealand (visit to Commonwealth Games)
11 February 1974 Norfolk Island
15-16 February 1974 New Hebrides
18-21 February 1974 British Solomon Islands (San Cristobal Honiara, Gizo)
22-27 February 1974 Papua New Guinea
27-28 February 1974 Australia (ACT; The Queen returned to London on 28 Feburary for a General Election in the UK)
28 February 1974 Singapore (refuelling)
14 March 1974 Singapore (refuelling)
15-22 March 1974 Indonesia, visiting President Soeharto
22 March 1974 Singapore (refuelling)
16-18 February 1975 Bermuda
18-20 February 1975 Barbados
20-21 February 1975 Bahamas
24 February - 1 March 1975 Mexico, visiting President Echeverria
1 March 1975 Bermuda (refuelling)
26-30 April 1975 Jamaica (Commonwealth Conference)
7-12 May 1975 Japan, visiting Emperor Hirohito
4-7 May 1975 Hong Kong13-25 July 1976
Canada (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Montreal for Olympic Games)
25-28 May 1976 Finland, visiting President Kekkonen
6-11 July 1976 USA, visiting President Ford
8-12 November 1976 Luxembourg, visiting The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess
10-11 February 1977 Western Samoa (Apia, Tiafau)
14 February 1977 Tonga
16-17 February 1977 Fiji
22 February - 7 March 1977 New Zealand
7-23 March 1977 Australia (ACT, NSW, Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia)
23-26 March 1977 Papua New Guinea
26-30 March 1977 Australia (Northern Territory, Western Australia)
14-19 October 1977 Canada (Ontario)
19-20 October 1977 Bahamas
22 October 1977 West Plana Cay (private)
23 October 1977 Little Inagua Island (private)
26 October 1977  ritish Virgin Islands (Tortola, Virgin Gorda)
27 October 1977 Antigua (private)
28 October 1977 Antigua
30 October 1977 Mustique (private)
31 October - 2 November 1977 Barbados
22-26 May 1978 Germany, visiting President Scheel
26 July - 6 August 1978 Canada (Newfoundland, Saskatchewan, Alberta for Commonwealth Games, Edmonto)
12-19 February to 2 March 1979 Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Oman
16-19 May 1979 Denmark, visiting Queen Margrethe
19-22 July 1979 Tanzania (Arusha, Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar, Kilimanjaro)
22-25 July 1979 Malawi (Blantyre, Lilongwe, Zomba Plateau)
25-27 July 1979 Botswana (Gaborone)
27 July - 4 August 1979 Zambia (Lusaka for Commonwealth Conference, Kitwe, Ndola)

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