Queen Elizabeth II was the first sitting British monarch to visit Philly. Here’s what happened when she did.

Queen Elizabeth II died Thursday at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, ending a 70-year reign that made her Britain’s longest-running monarch. She was 96.

Her son, who will now be known as King Charles III, said in a statement that her death is “a moment of the greatest sadness for me and all members of my family.”

“I know her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country, the Realms and the Commonwealth, and by countless people around the world,” Charles said.

» READ MORE: Queen Elizabeth II dead at 96 after 70 years on the throne

Philadelphia, though, has a special connection to the queen, thanks to a July 6, 1976, visit. She came to the city to celebrate America’s Bicentennial and kicked off a six-day trip around the country. The visit would make her the first sitting British monarch to visit Philadelphia.

Here is how The Inquirer and Daily News covered her time in Philly:

More than two decades after her coronation, Queen Elizabeth came to Philadelphia for the country’s Bicentennial celebration. The trip would be her second time in the United States, after a 1959 visit to Chicago.

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The queen arrived at Penn’s Landing just before 10 a.m. on July 6, 1976, pulling into port in the royal yacht Britannia with Prince Philip and about 45 guests. They stepped off the yacht 40 minutes later and were greeted by city and state officials including Gov. Milton J. Shapp and Mayor Frank Rizzo, the Daily News reported. (The queen, incidentally, reportedly pronounced his name “Rit-zo.”)

A throng of Philadelphia revelers gathered to get a glimpse of the queen. The crowd grew impatient and began chanting, “We want the queen,” the Daily News reported. One man, John Neri, 67, of Glenolden, died of a heart attack awaiting her arrival.

After leaving Penn’s Landing, the queen and her party headed to City Hall for an official reception, where they took a “specially decorated elevator,” according to the Daily News. About 100 city officials attended, The Inquirer reported — as did the Woodland String Band, which played the queen in as she walked with Rizzo.

The queen received a resolution of welcome from City Council, and a medallion commemorating the Bicentennial celebration. Rizzo also presented her with 10 lithographs by famed local artist Andrew Wyeth.

» READ MORE: After a lifetime of preparation, King Charles III takes the throne

“I hope your stay is pleasurable and that you bring back fond memories of this great city,” Rizzo said. He would later tell reporters that the queen was “very attractive, very gracious,” according to the Daily News.

The visit at City Hall reportedly lasted just 25 minutes, and the group then headed to the Penn Mutual Building at Sixth and Walnut Streets. The queen “seemed fascinated by the view” from the 20th-floor observation tower, the Daily News reported.

That afternoon, the queen and her cadre paid a visit to the Independence National Historical Park Visitor Center, where she presented the city with a birthday gift for the United States: the Bicentennial Bell — a 10-ton replica of the Liberty Bell cast at London’s Whitechapel Bell Foundry, where the original Liberty Bell was made in 1752. The gift bell itself had arrived in Philadelphia in June 1976, and was hung in a brick bell tower at Third and Chestnut Streets (it was put into storage in 2013).

“It seems to me that Independence Day, the Fourth of July, should be celebrated as much in Britain as in America,” Elizabeth told a crowd of onlookers. “Not in rejoicing at the separation of the American colonies from the British Crown, but in sincere gratitude to the founding fathers of the great republic for having taught Britain a very valuable lesson. We lost the American colonies because we lacked the statesmanship to know the right time and the manner of yielding, what is impossible to keep.”

» READ MORE: See how our photographers covered Queen Elizabeth II's 1976 trip to Philly.

Wearing a chiffon dress and a matching crepe de chine coat with blue and white stripes, the queen rang the Bicentennial Bell for the first time. Kind of. She pressed a button that was supposed to cause it to ring, but it didn’t go off. Then, Philip tried, but there was silence. Eventually, pressing the button did ring the bell, but the issue, according to The Inquirer, was that “a fellow up in the tower was supposed to ring the bell when he saw the queen push the button,” but he was “slow on the uptake.”

Those late to the ceremony had trouble getting within a block of the festivities, The Inquirer reported. And two groups mounted protests as part of the visit — one a religious group angered by the lack of a biblical inscription on the Bicentennial Bell, and another calling for Britain’s withdrawal from Northern Ireland — but they were too far away for the queen to see them.

While the queen gave the city another Liberty Bell, she also went home with a piece of the original. She was presented with a miniature Liberty Bell made from scraps “collected when the cracked bell was drilled and a bolt inserted many years ago,” The Inquirer reported.

“You know, this is one of the finest symbols of any country in the world,” the queen was heard to remark. “Everybody knows about the Liberty Bell.”

The queen capped her day in Philadelphia with a lavish dinner at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which a reported 300 guests attended — including some celebrities. According to the Daily News, one security worker failed to recognize actor John Wayne and asked him to step out of the queen’s path as she was entering. Sammy Davis Jr., though, declined to attend due to prior commitments when Rizzo called for him, The Inquirer reported.

The queen arrived at the Art Museum in a pink gown and diamond tiara, and was seated with Rizzo and his wife, Carmela; Philadelphia ’76 chairman Richard C. Bond; and other local officials. The dinner, catered by Marriott, consisted of salmon mousse, filet of beef Perigourdine, tomato farcie, baby lima beans, ice cream cake, petits fours, coffee, and three American wines, The Inquirer reported.

Daily News society editors, in particular, took issue with the inclusion of lima beans, calling the choice “unimaginative.”

With the exception of two toasts from Rizzo — one for the queen and one for President Gerald Ford — the evening was a relatively low-key affair. But one mild controversy involved Rizzo nearly missing out on a silver medallion given to other guests.

The medallions, which featured an image of the queen on one side and the Liberty Bell on the other, were placed in small cases at each guest’s seat. Rizzo, however, found his case empty, and told the queen, “Hey, somebody stole mine,” The Inquirer reported.

“You may have mine,” she replied. “I have one in gold.”