KING’S (TROUBLES

Hokitika Guardian, 23 August 1933, Page 3

KING’S (TROUBLES

ARAB MONARCH AND UNIFORMS

LONDONEXPERTS TROUBLES

The story bV.a tailor .who dressed an Eastern ki "ft ThtFinost anxious man in London for aTew'Mays recently is told by the . Sunday Chronicle. It is a (sidelight On dho' visit 'to ..England of King F'eisal of"lrak. ‘ ' ‘\Vlibri 'tlie ; BeseiT ; 'fuler : st%iiied , ''out of the train to shake hands with King George every' eye on the platform turned to the gorgeous uniforms he and- his staff. were wearing. The-most anxious eye of all was that of • .Mr William Johnstone, for lie had designed' and created them.' Until he' .reach-, e'd ' O.stend, : King FcisaT had not the slightest idea of: what he 'was going to wear on his most .important visit. He first put on his new State regalia ,a few hours before he landed in England. To the visiting King the uniform was of vital importance, and several months ago he sought advice- in Scickville Street. The man who came to the. rescue was Mr Johnstone, the' greatest expert on military and State uniforms in England. In three days Mr Johnstone designed a new regalia for a king.

“In 35 years of this business I. have never had such a difficult job,”, Mr jqhnstone said., “The new designs had to be sent by . air mail, and. I worked, against the eloejy three djays and nights on them. It. ,was a question of -gregt .delicacy involving}, matters of rank and etiquette,, King Feisal’s aim-; form liad to be inagnificent, but it. qould not clash with any! British Service uniform. , Then there were the rank .badges arfd decorations to be ein-. broidered on it,

‘‘After lengthy consultations with the Iraqiii Embassy and a look at the national .flag, I decided on palm leaves, the Iraqui crowns, and the sevpnpointed star with crossed Arab; swords. As an example of the detail I .had special dies made of the. Araqui arms for all the buttons on Court uniforms. The man who .helped Mr Johnstone with the laces and accoutrements was a. London expert, Mr ?E. W. Riches. Mr Johnstone had great difficulty about the headgear for King FeisaT. for there is a religious significance to headwear in the East. After some research he found that the King preferred the khudha, <a. tall helmet rather like,a topee,. •

There .were,eight uniforms to be designed. The. King approved them all by cable, and then a cutter went all the way to Bagdad to take measurements of the King. .‘Then we started a month’s rush to make the outfits,” Mr Johnstone said. “One, trouble was to find craftsmen able to do fine gold leaf work ; there are a precious few left now. For fitting I had to use two of my staff who were about the same measurements as King Feisal, “Orders and decorations were another worry, or I bad to find them all in London. Any. mistake on the fine cloths we were using > would < have been fatal. It was most nerve-wrack-ing.” But the iob was a success, and King Feisal was more'than satisfied. The value of, the. Irak Court uniforms which wil be worn by the King at home is several hundreds of pounds.