GUESTS ATTEND DINNER AND DANCE PARTY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26622, 19 November 1947, Page 5

GUESTS ATTEND DINNER AND DANCE PARTY

Rec. 8 p.m. LONDON, Nov. 18. Members of the British and foreign royal families attended a small dymer party and dance which the King and Queen gave at Buckingham Palace last night. The guests danced to the music of Carrol Gibbons's band, Queen Mary, Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten were present, and the foreign royalty included the King and Queen of Denmark, the King of Norway, the Queen of the Hellenes, the King and Queen of Yugoslavia, the former Queen of Spain, the Princess Regent of the Netherlands, Prince Bernhardt, and the Prince Regent of Belgium. There will be no flowers on the high altar at Westminster Abbey for the wedding. Instead, the altar will be a mass of gold. It is tradition on such occasions to fill the altar with the Abbey’s ancient gold plate and gold ceremonial pieces. There will, however, be masses of flowers in alabaster jars placed to the sides of the altar. When the royal couple enter the Chapel of Edward the Confessor at the rear of the high altar to sign the register on November 20, they will bo accompanied by the King and Queen, Princess Margaret, the registrar, two pages—Prince Michael of Kent and Prince William of Gloucester —and also Queen Mary, Princess Andrea of Greece, the mother of the bridegroom. the Arcbhishon of Cantorburv. the Dean o f Westminster and the precentor o f Westminster Abbey, the Pov C. Ar'mitage. Buckingham Palace announced that the Princess Royal, to her very great regret, is unavoidablv prevented by a chill from attending the royal wedding. She is confined to her rooms at Harewood House, near Leeds. Her condition is satisfactory.