GREAT SPECTACLE

Hokitika Guardian, 23 July 1930, Page 7

GREAT SPECTACLE

TROOPING THE COLOURKING’S BIRTHDAY PARADE. LONDON, June 5. The demand for tickets to see. thf Trooping of the Colour oil the King fBirthday was greater than ever this year, and it certainly, seemed as i half the population of London had assembled in the neighbourhood of tilt Horse Guards Parade last Tuesday. For sheer pageantry there is nothing to surpass this occasion, and, a,s one watched it from the crowded Mall neai the Admiralty Arch, the great hollow square of red coats, the Life Gun,’ls in white and gold, with their magnificent plumed helmets, and the splendid uniforms of the Princes, ma !e A unforgettable. The absence of the King was a great disappointment, but the Prince carried out his duties splendidly, and the crowd gathered at Buckingham Palace had the pleasure of seeing his Majesty with the Queen and other members of the Royal Family on the balcony, watching the Prince of Wales departing with the Royal procession. The Duke of York, the Duke of Gloucester, Prince Arthur of Connaught and Lord Harewood were also riding in the procession, while the Queen, who drove in an open carriage with Princess Mary, Prince George and Princess Mary’s two little boys was heartily cheered by the crowd, whose generai comment was “Isn’t she lovly,” for her majesty always adds a special grace and dignity of her own to any function in which she takes part. Others were asking each other what the. Queen’s birthday present to her husband could have been. The crowd was dense. Half the people could see nothing and at one period there was a rush when the procession took an unexpected turn and the police had to force their way to the front, but everyone was good tempered, nobody minded and when the strains of “God Save the King’’ came drifting faintly from the parade ground hats were swept off and everyone in the crowd stiffened as if they too, were on parade. BRILLIANT SCENE AT LEVEE. The Prince of Wales deputised for the King at the levee on Monday, as his Majesty had not then sufficiently recovered from his attack of rheuniatism to warrant the strain of standing for so long. The scene was a very brilliant one and the Prince’s coach escorted by Life Guards was a fine, pageant in itself as it proceeded from ] Buckingham Palace to the Garden Entrance of St James’s, where the Prince was received by the great officers of the Household.. The Duke of York Pi’ifice George, Prince Arthur of Coilnaught and Lord Louis M,ountbatten were all there and there wei'o ft number of interesting presentations. The High Commissioner 'for New Zealand presented Second-Lieutenant Frank Davis, Squadron-Leader J. Lloyd Findlay, and Second-Lieutenant R. C. Queree. Both Lieutenant Davis and Lieutenant Queree belong to the New Zealand Staff Corps and both passed out’of Sandhurst last year. They have to spend one year attached to a British regiment before going hack to the permanent force in New Zealand. It must have proved an interesting coincidence for SquadronLeader Findlay to find Sir Alan Cobham, the famous airman, presented on the same occasion. Among others who attended were Admiral Sir James Fergusson, brother of the late Governor of New Zealand, whose wife is a New Zealander from Wellington «.nd was Miss Enid Williams. Padre Ellison, one of the leading lights of Toe H, was there presenting his son, and Sir Roger Iveyes, of Zeebrugge, was presented by the First Lord of the Admiralty on his promotion to the rank of Admiral ol the Fleet. Two recently created barons who attended were Lord BadenPowell, the Chief .Scout, and Lord Melchett. The man who received the most attention from the press photographers was Major Lindsay Hay, or the Black Watch, who is reputed to be the tallest man in the British Army and was an imposing figure in the full dress uniform of his regiment.