Queen Elizabeth II inspiration for women in New England during 1970 visit

"He asked me how I was, and I said, 'I'm good. Thank you. Thank you for coming to Armidale'.

"And he said, 'Oh, well, you're welcome. We enjoy coming to meet Australians'."

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Ms Bailey was in the throng of the crowds on April 28, and as they pushed forward to speak to him, he just looked at the young girl and said, "'You have a lovely day', and off he wandered."

"He could command the space. He was quite the man," Ms Bailey said.

"And I am not sure if it was the etiquette, but Prince Philip was a bit faster than Queen Elizabeth II.

"I think she was swamped by the crowd, with a lot of people wanting to get her attention. I don't think the prince was as popular."

Queen Elizabeth II was greeting people on the other side of the road, so Ms Bailey did not get a chance to see the person who would become her role-model, idol and inspiration as a young woman.

"I grew up during the years where women were seen and not heard," Ms Bailey said.

"So to be the Queen of the country in a Commonwealth, it gave women the impetus to think, 'I can do something too', 'I can do that'."

Ms Bailey ended up running million-dollar companies throughout her life. "She had more impact in my life than I thought," Ms Bailey said.

"So, I did cry when she passed away. It's the end of an era."

Queen Elizabeth II died in her Balmoral home, a royal castle estate in Scotland on Friday September 9 (AEST) at the age of 96.

Her passing comes one year and five months after the love of her life Prince Philip, the man she was married to for 73 years, passed away on April 9, 2021.

She was the longest serving British monarch, commanding the throne for 70 years. The Crown Jewels will now be passed on to her son King Charles III.

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Royal visit to Armidale 1970

The Queen visited Australia with Prince Philip and two of her children Princess Anne and Prince Charles in 1970 to mark 200 years since Captain Cook sailed along the NSW east coast.

Prince Charles was absent during the Armidale visit on April 28, but Ms Bailey said there was a man standing beside Prince Philip who looked very similar to the now king.

"Prince Charles was, of course, the catch of the day back then. And all the girls were dreaming about Prince Charles," Ms Bailey said.

"But I was just thinking, 'I want to meet the Queen. I want to meet the Queen'."

Ms Bailey had carpooled from Inverell to Armidale with her neighbour, a Baptist Pastor, and his family, wearing her "Sunday best" dress and shiny black shoes, she said.

"When we got there, everybody was milling around. It was the strangest experience for people from a small country town to go somewhere. I think everybody from the region turned up.

"Armidale didn't know what hit it that day.

"I didn't feel the weather or anything. It was like I was in a little bubble of awesomeness."

Throughout her school years in Inverell, Ms Bailey remembers photos of the Queen lined along the halls and on the walls of her classroom.

"We were well-versed in the Elizabethan code and ethic; of work hard like the Queen," Ms Bailey says.

And before assemblies, weddings and other engagements, she says, "we used to say 'God Bless the Queen'. These days that just doesn't happen."

The future King Charles III

Ms Bailey doesn't support Australia becoming a Republic after observing the polarisation of politics in the US. But she does believe it is time for Australia to grow up as a nation.

'I've been watching him (the now King Charles III), and he's actually been a guiding light in the environmental aspects of our world," she says.

"I remember when he first started talking about plants and stuff. Everybody said he was 'off with the fairies', but he wasn't, he was actually ahead of his time.

Ms Bailey said the whole Princess Diana saga was hurtful but Camilla had been a "pretty good anchor" for the now King Charles III.

"Everybody should allow him to shine and see how he goes and not hold things against him.

"Prince Charles has had a lifetime to understand what the job takes. And I think you'll see the best to the end of his life to do what's necessary and what's good for the position."

Ms Bailey remembers

"But Queen Elizabeth II was a wonderful woman. And I think that a lot of women grew stronger because of her."

Only three years later, in 1973, Queen Elizabeth II officially opened Sydney's Opera House on October 20, which was Ms Bailey's birthday.

"I still cry. I've been watching TV on and off because I'm in bed ill," Ms Bailey said. She is surviving a bout of chronic illness where she now lives on the NSW south coast.

"If they show me bits that I grew up looking at. And I'm sure that I know happened, and I remember where I was when that happened, then I think; we'll all miss Queen Elizabeth II as a person."

Rosean Bailey today goes by her Welsh name Seren Olywn Rhosyn.

Australia will celebrate a national day of mourning every year on September 22.

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