SOUVENIR SEEKERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26630, 28 November 1947, Page 5

SOUVENIR SEEKERS

ROMSEY ABBEY CROWDED ROYAL COUPLE’S VISIT N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent LONDON, Nov. 27. Indignant letters are appearing in the British press protesting against incidents outside and inside Romsey Abbey, when Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip attended the service L tre on Sunday. This follows the publication of photographs showing women and men standing on tombstones in the churchyard, and scrambling i n to window sills of the church in cider to peer inside. One report, which has evoked particularly indignant reactions, stated that after the royal couple left the church, women queued in order to sit and kneel in the places the royal couple had occupied during the service. ■ Others removed hymn books ana even flowers from near the altar as souvenirs. Canon Corban, who conducted the service, said he had been forced to put all the hymn books away, because the people were stealing them. Villagers of Romsey, who have worshipped all their lives in Romsey Abbey, were crowded out by throngs of sightseers who treated the church with scant respect. Some of the sightseers carried chairs, tables, and even „ pair of step ladders into the churcli yard in order to obtain vantage points from which to look through window’s and see over the heads of the crowd. A later message stated that when the couple arrive in Aberdeen to-day to continue their honeymoon on the Deeside there will bo a complete absence of ceremony at their own special request. The Marquess of Aberdeen, Lord Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire, announced that Elizabeth’s private secretary had written to him asking that the visit should be regarded as private. The letter said “Their Royal Highnesses do not desire any formalities and do not wish to be received on their arrival in Aberdeen or anywhere else in the county. They do wish to be absolutely by themselves and hope there will be no crowds of