Someone recently suggested in the "user comments" that the girl and the boy (from this film) ran away from home in order to see the Queen. I believe this is not the case. I'm pretty sure that this might have happened in another film that was shown on the Children's Film Festival. The two children in that movie were blonds. And I think the girl was ill. Any help would be appreciated.
shareThe two children in this movie decide they are going to take a raft to Africa. Both children are dark-haired. They are encountering religious bigotry because the little boy is Christian and the little girl is Jewish.
shareThere was a feature broadcast on the children's festival called "John and Julie". In that film, a boy and a girl ran away together to see Queen Elizabeth at her coronation. In "Hand in Hand", Michael and Rachel didn't run off, but rather tried hitching a ride to London to see the Queen.
shareThat's it! Mystery solved. Thanks gymmy75. Interesting enough, these are the only two films from the CBS Children's Film Festival that I can recall. Thanks again.
shareMichael and Rachel DID try to hitchhike to London to have tea with the Queen! Then they were picked up by Lady Caroline, played by Sybil Thorndike, who took them to one of the Queen's houses (Charles was in Boarding School, Anne was with her Mother, but the Corgi's were there!).
So even though they didn't get to see the Queen, they DID get to go to one of her houses and play with her dogs and spend the afternoon with a "princess," Lady Caroline.