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Show ii -- - - j:i, TWO EXPRESS t J C" " n COLUMNISTS J-j . . 7"N) U OF PAGEANTRY V. ..- ! j v-vj w i JJ u MHZ? WJINGS u X I smiles, alike . . . tht smiles of a mother and her daughter , . the smiles of the Queen Mother and Princes) Margaret on their way to the Abbey, . Two happj, radiant faces, rcjoicinsr in tht mpreme day. DOXALD EDGAR, writer of EXPRESS DIARY, highlights the odd moments as he waited in the annexe of Westminster Abbey yesterday. AT 6 a.m. food from Buckingham Palace arrives. Two footmen are not allowed in. They have no passes. At 6.5 : The Earl Marshal, the Duke of Norfolk, comes in to have a look round, white breeches underneath blue greatcoat with red lapels and red collar. He is wearing brown carpet slippers. 6.10 : An iron barrier is across the peers' entrance. It takes the Earl Marshal to have it removed. A Gold Stick usher in velvet Court suit is having to help the Palace butler who has a pass to carry the hampers of food across. The footmen in spite of protests are not allowed In. K 40 : Norfolk has ehansed into his nroner hlaclc mimns tip has lust mnrturpH lntr A wave from royal Tonga the Abbey for another look round, overcoat still on and his hands deep in his pockets. B.5U : It is coid in the annexe. The Gold Sucks are marching uo and down to keen warm. 7.5 : Asked the Earl Marshal how is everything going. " The Abbey is nearly full so I suppose something is functioning." He says he has been in the Abbey two hours. Taking it easy just now fj sr Duke of Portland 1 ) arrives in his J LJ short red tunic, carrying a tin box and his Garter robes. " I don't know why one should stand if one can sit." he says, and plomps himself him-self down on a bench. " How long did it take you to get into your outfit ? " says the Duke of Norfolk to him. "About an hour," replied 60-year-oid Portland. Norfolk is very much the grandee with his hands in his pockets. He goes up casually to a duchess, as she goes in, addresses her by her Christian name still with his hands in his pockets. 7.40 : Lord Woolton. arrives, looks vety well after his illness, but he is. wrong in the red robes of a peer. He would have made a magnificent medieval prelate. 7.45: Duke of Wellington arrives in Garter robes. He rulers have to make a quick flpish to their lunch. They are hauled off to get into their carriage. It is raining. " I'm not going until the last possible moment." says the Duke of Gloucester. " 1 haven't a change of jacket when we arrive. Have you ? " he asks Lord Mounthaftcn. " No. I haven't one either, but I suppose sup-pose we'd better go," says the admiral. Outside, the sun is waiting THE Queen stays nearly a quarter of an hour later than arranged over her lunch. The rumour goes round that. Sir Winston has said: " Wait a few minutes. I know the sun is going to come out." And by the time she goes out the weather is clearing. She looks a little tired as she comes out from lunch and the crown is weighing heavily on her. But the Duke of Edinburgh conies along, cracks a joke with her and the Queen's face lights up into her wonderful smile. That is the last memory of nine hours in the annexe. It is the one that matters. I N K A K L Y 2,000.000 ! ! " people travelled to the S S West End between midnight ! S and 7a.m. yesterday. I ! Buses and Underground ! : trains carried 1.000,000 ! ! people between 3.30 a.m. I ! and 7.30 a.m. ! ! London Transport took ; 20,000 children to terminal ; Foints near the royal route; ; , 6.000 in trains, the others ; ; in buses. ; ; . And. when it was all over, ; the children were away ; ; within 90 minutes. ; END-COLUMN NEWS-NAMES IN THE ABBEY ALSO SPOTTED in tht Abbey Amiexe : j Lord Halifax, wearing his enormous coronet in the fashion of a dandy well down over the forehead and slightly to one side. . . . Ladv Churchill, when stv arrives', looks very feminine, ver. ga as if She is enjoying ever, minute of it. . . . Yeoman Quartermaster H. 1J Johns, Master of the Roya. Ravens at the Tower of London sitting down after his lunch an: saving that his five ravens ar allowed 2s. 4d. a wek each fo: horseflesh. , "But," he adds, I only ge 7d. a dav extra for looking afte: the ravens. I don't think there'" been an increase since the reip: of Queen Victoria." Surrounded by the wealth an;, power of England, what worm him was that 7d. a day. . . . The mast handsome man Lord Kilmarnock, deputising lc the Countess of Erroll as Lor-High Lor-High Coastable of Scotland. He is over six feet, tall wit; pertectly white hair but p'.en' of it. How magnificent h: Highland dress, with the grea bunch of lace at the throat an more lace falling over Ui, hands 1 Among many lovely women two women notably lovely-Princess lovely-Princess Astrid, in pale viol" with a white fox fur; th Du,chess of Northumberland with a magnificent tiara. j Islands, as she drives to the Abbey. And she smiles ... a queenly smile. Her headdress is two thin slicks with flowers. minutes in the Queen's procession. 11.5 : Panic ends: the coronet, is found. 11.10 : What a masterful man the Earl Marshal is today ! He sends a message asking the Duke of Gloucester to hurry up with his robing. 11.20 : The Duke of Edinburgh passes into the Abbev. 11.25 ; And now THE Qt'EEN. ENTER THE QUEEN . . . SO YOUNG ... SO FRAGILE THE QUEEN looks so young, so fragile, between the rather formidable Bishops of Bath and Wells, and Durham, that you cannot think of the Hartnell gown, and the six Maids of Honour bearing the train. She is just a rather wonderful woman, about to undergo a tremendous ordeal, uplifting but infinitely wearing. 11.26 : The West door of the Abbey closes. 1.15 : A little activity In the annexe again. The Grenadier Guards, who have been standing guard since 8 a.m., are ordered to pick up the specks of fluff on the carpet the minutest imaginable, for the carpet was brushed just before the Queen came in. These giants of men arrayed in military splendour grovel over the carpet, putting the fluff into their pockets. A HAND goes up in a royal greeting . . .Ihe hand of Queen Salote of Tonga, majestic (ift. 3ins. ruler of the Friendly Lady Harewood and Gerald Lascelles, his brother. Lady Harewood very pale, dark, dignified. dig-nified. 9.2 : General Marshall, of the U.S., stands waiting immediately immedi-ately in front of Mr. Malik, Russian delegate. They exchange no w:ord. Malik is a pale, handsome man. 9.23 : The Lord Mayor, Sir Rupert De la Bcre. said: "We had a great cheer when we arrived. But of course after a four hours' wait the crowds w'ould have cheered the dustcart." dust-cart." "My stockings are coming down," said an usher male of course. Join the queue ... take a snack -A The mast brilli- I ant queue in J British history forms. A buffet opens. The Church is in first with the Bishop of London well up. 9.40 : Queen Salote of Tonga passes into the Abbey. Most striking headdress ever seen. Two thin sticks pushing up into the air with a dried- flower decoration, and, of course, every inch a queen. 10.0 : Sir Winston Churchill, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Archbishop of York all the great personages are now getting ready. 10. IK : A procession of the Royal Family, which includes the Duchess of Kent, the Duchess of Gloucester, and the Princess Royal, becomes disorganised. They end up five minutes late and race into the Abbey. 10.37 : Princess Margaret and the Queen Mother put in a' perfect entrance Margaret with very slow walk, very dignified, with a faint smile, and the Queen Mother with just a trace of sadness. 10.41 : With a conspiratorial air Sir Winston Churchill and f ; ' t ; i f v.. ' i 1 ! f'i. : ' if ..'A.J ' : r " it M p fi A i'! 'JJl''' K -, - j JL I" . . ... : . ' PEERESS m A HURRY 9 LADY HAREWOOD. tiara on her head, her coronet in her hand, leaves home tor the Abbey. All the sians 0 haste, you ask ? Yet not long alter she tens oe 0 the. most dignified of all .the grand concourse of peeresses. and Duke of Portland fuss with each other's jabots like two women examining each other's clothes. But. then, today the men are the ones who look magnificent. " it's a bit draughty in these breeches," says the Duke of Portland as he continues to wander round. "I've got nothing on underneath." under-neath." They are all members of one big club rj r"A Tlle srf,at nal1 of I the annexe is fill- vyv ing up now with the men and women who will form pa it of the great processions proces-sions into the Abbey. 8.0: Field-Marshals, dukes, and earls are filling up the little benches. What a cast to play the roles in this great pageant I Peers and peeresses are wandering in now. They are all members of one great club. Everybody knows everyone every-one else. Dairy Lane, the Old Vic, and Covent Garden have ail sent in their wardrobes, and Moss Bros., have thrown in theirs in good measure. At least that's what it looks like. 8.8 : Lord Dalkeith. m the green and gold uniform of the Royal Company of Archers. But the talk is still of sitting down. Says Ihe Marquis of Salisbury: "I'm going to sit down while T can : I've got to stand .the whole wav through." 8.15 : I ield-Marsiial Lord Montgomery is getting out a newspaper. He is in his full Garter robes. He sits there surrounded by all the magnificence, magni-ficence, qtlieily reading. That duke is having trouble again r) - Portland asain f ( ' " Mv breeches are UivW tied on to n;y shirt" and once more "I've nothing on underneath." 8.27 : Lord Montgomery folds his paper and talks with Lord Simonds, the Lord Chancellor. 8.31 : Lord Montgomery opens his newspaper again. 8.50 : Ii is quite obvious why peers war robes it is so cold in the Abbey, thev are really functional garments. 8.57 : Firsi members of Ihe Royal Family arrive; Lord and The Prime Ministers are so noisy -4 if! The head of the I j procession moves AjL1 very slowly out of the West door . . . slowly enough for you to notice the red heels of the pages' pumps. There is no doubt : the peers' robes are magnificent. But coronets are horrible. Then the Commonwealth Prime Ministers come out. And they break the silence and the dignity by talking among themselves them-selves especially Mr. Nehru and Mr. Menzies. Lord Crawford and Balcarres. the patron of art, looks very-Scottish very-Scottish in his kilt. He has one of the mast pointed noses in the United Kingdom. And today, in his official position of Great Steward of Scotland, it is raised very high in the air. For lunch : Sausage and champagne NOW the scene is set once again for the Queen. All Ihe old traditional power, the titles, the military prowess, and the ennobled wealth are ready to receive her. And out she comes ... so young. All that weight of panoply and ceremony seems fo'r a moment inappropriate. She goes into lunch. With the rest of the Royal Family she has a choice of smoked salmon, foie-gras, sausage rolls, and cheese and biscuits. To drink there is champagne and colTee. As soon as she goes in to lunch everyone relaxes. The Duchess of Norfolk puis on a bit of lipstick. Her husband, one of Ihe leaders of the Roman Catholic Church, has a friendly talk with the Archbishop of Canterbury. Then there is another rush for the buffet. Coronets are ugly, uncomfortable I AM righl about those coronets. Nearly every one is whipped off in 'five minu'es so they must be uncomfortable as well as ugly. And I nonce Princess Margaret, when she comes out from lunch, is poking at hers as if she quite expects if to fall off any minute. The combination of a tiara and a coronet is quite the ugliest that can ever be imagined. Tt is about 2.50 p.m. Queen Salote and half a dozen other WINSTON CHANGES HATS NEW GARTER KNIGHT Sir Winston leaves No. 10 tor the Palace, seen off bit granddaughter grand-daughter Arabella Churchill ; grandson Nicholas Soames. The Prime Minister wears his Lord Warden oj the Cinque Ports uniform. Alter the. Abbey ceremony cere-mony he went home in his flat, black. Knight of the Garter crip with its white plume. Mr. Mcnzies, Prime Minister of Australia, go into a side room. in. 52 : They return looking refreshed. in.53 : The cleaners come In asaiu to sweep the carpets. Surprisme what a lot of sweet-papers, sweet-papers, odd cards, and newspapers news-papers this august assembly has discarded. . 10.54 : Panic among the Gold Stick ushers : the Duke of Iteaufort's coronet is losl . It, must be found for he it due lo enter the Abljev in a few I , - ' ) The Duchess of CMourrsIrr arriving at lhr Alibry with I'rince William (right) and i'rinie Itieliard. |