When a Forest was planted in Israel in Celebration of Queen Elizabeth's Coronation

Today (June 2, 2022) marks the anniversary celebrations of the crowning of Queen Elizabeth II, as part of the celebrations of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. Queen Elizabeth II is the longest-reigning British monarch. In celebration of her crowning in 1953, Britain's Jewish community has contributed through JNF UK the planting of a forest in Shimron in the Lower Galilee, named after the event – Queen Elizabeth's Coronation Forest.

The planting ceremony was attended by many prominent figures, among them Prime Minister Moshe Sharett, Speaker of the Knesset Yosef Sprinzak, KKL-JNF chairman Avraham Granot, and British Ambassador to Israel John Nicholas, who read a message from Queen Elizabeth at the ceremony. The unveiling of the forest's sign was done by Vera Weizmann, the widow of Israel's first president Chaim Weizmann, along with the wife of the British Ambassador. Sharett and Sprinzak planted a tree in the forest during the ceremony.


Former Israeli Prime Minister Moshe Sharett plants a tree in Queen Elizabeth's Coronation Forest. Photo: Avraham Mleavsky, KKL-JNF Photo Archive.


The Wife of the British Ambassador to Israel (right) along with Vera Weizmann at the unveiling of the of the forest's sign in 1955. Photo: Avraham Mleavsky, KKL-JNF Photo Archive.