The Queen visits Aberfan days after the disaster: 1966

On 30 October 1966, just a week after the disaster, Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh visited the area. This was the most infamous coal disaster of the second half of the 20th century; it didn’t kill workers at the coalface, but, instead, their children. On 21 October 1966 waste from the Merthyr Vale colliery slid down the mountainside in Aberfan, swamping the local Pantglas junior school and killing 144 people, 116 of whom were children.

By 2012 the Queen had made four visits to Aberfan since the disaster.