LONG STAND IN RAIN

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 118, 22 May 1939, Page 9

LONG STAND IN RAIN

CROWD AT OTTAWA

-. BLUNDER BY OFFICIAL

OTTAWA, May 20.

A blunder on the part of a Government official tonight caused an unfortunate incident. It had been announced that the King and Queen would make a brfief appearance on the balcony of the Chateau Laurier before the Government banqUet. A crowd of 90,000 people jammed Connaught Square and waited for four hours. The King, however, had not been informed. Finally word reached the King that a crowd had been gathered at the front entrance of the hotel since the early afternoon. He immediately asked to be excused and, with the Queen, went on. to the balcony. Rain was falling, but despite cautions from equerries, their Majesties stood on the balcony for five minutes acknowledging the plaudits, of the crowd. They did not return to the banqueting chamber, taking coffee instead in a private room. The crowd, drenching wet, stood for a further two hours vainly hoping for another opportunity to see their Majesties. Sixty-five people collapsed and were treated by ambulance officers. .

Margaret Rose Paquette, 71b in weight, was probably the youngest person in history to attend a. Royal procession, because her mother insisted on going to see the King and Queen. She was born in a boathouse just as, the State carriage appeared along the! route skirting the lake. A doctor, hastily summoned from a first-aid post, rushed them to hospital when the procession had passed. Margaret's name did not present any difficulties, as she has an elder sister called Elizabeth.