Déjà zoo! The Queen opens new London Zoo lion pen, 40 years after visiting the exact same spot

1/5
Laura Proto17 March 2016

London Zoo’s new lion has been branded a roaring success after gaining the royal seal of approval from the Queen.

Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh officially opened the Land Of The Lions exhibit at the Regents Park zoo, which will be home to four endangered Asiatic lions, on Thursday morning.

The Queen and Prince Philip listened to speeches from ZSL president Sir John Beddington and director Ralph Armond, while lions prowled behind them in search of meat.

A stand-off between two of the lionesses over some lunch prompted the Queen to repeatedly glance behind her, as a loud roar interrupted the speeches.

Her Majesty then unveiled a large plaque to commemorate the opening, while the Duke joked to staff: "Where are you putting that?"

The Duke was later presented with a reproduction of a painting by Edward Lear circa 1835 of an Asian lion to accompany the publication The Maneless Lion Of Gujarat.

The Queen also received a gift of a photograph of her visit to the zoo 40 years ago, in 1976, when she opened the New Lion Terraces at almost the same spot.

Dame Vivien Duffield and her daughter Arabella, who were in that photograph, also attended Thursday's launch event.

The Queen at the Zoo in 1976
Rex

"You look a bit different", the Queen joked to Arabella, who was just four years old when the photo was taken, prompting laughter from the crowd.

Dame Vivien said the Queen looked "fantastic" as they were reunited 40 years on.

Additional reporting by Press Association.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in