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How Queen Elizabeth II brought a Southgate couple together
Art and Marjorie Woitte met in 1953 on a ship to London for Queen Elizabeth II's coronation
12/5/2025
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Deron Hamel
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Pictured above, clockwise from top left, Art and Marjorie Woitte on their wedding day in 1957, Marjorie in 1953 and the Weston Girls in 1953.
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In the spring of 1953, Art Woitte boarded the Empress of France as part of a Commonwealth youth group travelling to the United Kingdom for Queen Elizabeth II's coronation. Before the ship even left Canada, a friend tipped him off: there was a dark-haired girl on board he needed to meet.
That girl was 17-year-old Marjorie, one of the Weston Coronation Girls, a group of teens chosen by their school principals and sponsored by Canadian businessman W. Garfield Weston to be in London for the historic ceremony on June 2.
Once on the ship, Art searched for the dark-haired beauty from Manitoba his friend had mentioned, but there was a snag.
“Did I mention that they were all dressed alike and there were many beautiful dark-haired girls?” says Art, who today lives at Southgate Village in Kingsville with Marjorie, who became his wife.
To find Marjorie, Art says he danced with several girls during the journey across the Atlantic.
As the tour continued, they went their separate ways. On the day of the coronation, Art watched the newly crowned queen's parade from The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, while Marjorie watched from Oxford Street, central London's main artery.
After Art and Marjorie arrived back in Canada, they went their separate ways. But as fate would have it, the couple met again when they attended the same college. They began dating and were married on May 25, 1957, a day that has special significance, notes Valerie Judas, Southgate Village's fun co-ordinator.
“They were married four years to the day they met on that ship and have made wonderful memories since,” Valerie says.
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