KING AND QUEEN.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20316, 15 August 1931, Page 15

KING AND QUEEN.

VISIT TO EDINBURGH. KEYS OF GOOD CITY RETURNED, j i (THOU OCR OTVV COEEESPONDBNT.) LONDON, July 10. ' S Tho King and Queen wer© in Edin- j burgh on July 6th, the 3Sth anniver- j I sary of their wedding day. They went : ! North by special train two days pre- j viously, and stayed at Holyrood House, ; Edinburgh. The bells of St. George's j Chapel at Windsor were rung, flags were flown in London and in Edinburgh, and j Royal servants at Holyrood House were j given champagne to drink their Majes- j ties' health in honour of the day. j Tho King and Queen are making their first visit to tho Scottish capital for four years. Naturally, there were great crowds in the streets to witness j the two-mile drive in an open carriage from the station to the Palace of Holyrood House, and there was a tremendous welcome for his Majesty, who "was visiting Edinburgh for the first time after his illness. As the royal train drew to a halt after its 400 mile ; journey from Euston, aeroplanes circled overhead, and from the ancient hill-top castle came at regular intervals the boom of cannon, the Royal salute of 21 guns. In the station the Lord Provost, Sir Thomas Whitson, the magistrates and councillors of the city, and representatives of the Army, Navy and Air Force were waiting to extend an official j welcome. The Secretary of State for | Scotland, Mr W. Adnmson, M.P., prej serited the Lord Provost, who offered to | the King the keys of Edinburgh. He i said: — J "We, the Lord Provost, Magistrates j j and Council of the City of Edinburgh, J } have embraced the earliest moment of approaching your Royal presence and welcoming your Majesty to the capital of your ancient and hereditary kingdom of Scotland and of offering for your gracious acceptance the keys of your Majesty's good town of Edinburgh." j The King replied:— j "1 return these keys, being perfectly convinced that they cannot bo placed in better hands than those of the Lord Provost and magistrates of my good city of Edinburgh." j The key presentation is an ancient symbolic ceremony. In the Cathedral. The King and Queen attended Divine service in St. Giles's Church on Sunday, after driving in brilliant summer sunshino up the "Royal Mile," which was lined by cheering chowds. The King's four Scottish chaplains took part in the service, and the preacher was the Rev. Dr. Charles War:', minister of St. Giles's. The King sat on the Sovereign's Seat, under a high carved oaken canopy, with the Queen on his left. No one but the King and his direct representative, the j Lord High Commissioner of the Church i of Scotland, ever sits in this seat, which i was last occupied by Mr James Brown, M.P., who was once a miner, at the | General Assembly of tho Scottish Church this year. , The service, which was very simple, was deeply impressive. In the chancel were sitting the Lord Provost and members of tho Corporation in their scarlet robes, judges of tho Court of Session in scarlet and ermine, and representatives of Edinburgh University. Tho King was manifestly interested ' by the short, spirited sermon by Dr. - Warr. "It will be well for us to apply > some of the robust faith embodied in > our hearts to the present difficulties of - our national life," the Dean said. ; "Our country. is ri passing "through a , period > and abroad. I woji.ld. fjpee to say to. 1 congregation such as' this that tlie mart s who to speech or behaviour is doing ' anything in these days tto contribute to an atmosphere of pOSsiinism is render irig; a 'miserable service to his country and his fellow-citizenSi-'Let us be'done with pessimism and unworthy fears."; War Memorial Slmne. On Sunday afternoon, the King and Queen drove to the Scottish War Memorial Shrine at the Castle, remaining for an hour. It was tho second time the King and Queen had been in the shrine, and the King particularly adj mired the new statue Reveille, by : Mr Pilkington Jackson which was reccntly placed over the central doorway. : Their Majesties then paid a visit to " the new Scottish War Museum, which ! is not yet open to the public. Here the King saw the yellow banner with the blue cross that the Appin. Stewarts carried into the battle of Culloden and , the two banners borne- by Barrell's Regiment, which opposed them. The pulte of Atholl "told the King that it was hoped to make the museum a complete record of the naval and military history of Scotland. - ' ' .."I think it is a splendid idea," said the King. His Majesty was astonished at the number of relics already collected. The relic which most interested the Queen was a little plainly-bound . Bible. ■ ~ The Duke of Atholl told her how the 3 book had been found _by a German 3 officer tightly clasped in the hand or 7 a Seaforth private soldier, who died 3 With a smile on his face on the battlet field between Cambrai and Bapaume m March, 1918. It was eventually traced ' by a Scottish girl who was studying I divinity iu Germany, and it was this } book which was the start of the War . Museum. i Next, the King and Queen motored to s Hopetoun House; Queensferry, where , they paid an informal visit to the Marr quess and Marchioness of Linlithgow, - with whom they took tea. Galleries and Hospitals. On Monday the King and Queen were joined by the Duke and Duchess of York, and together they visited the Royal Scottish Academy and the Scottish National Gallery. James Miller ,s portrait of his father* depicting a shrewd, white-bearded Scot, _ with a 3 glint of humour in his eyes, interested " the Royal party. "I would give anything to paint like that," the Duchess of York told Sir George Washington Browne, the President, who escorted the party. • Later the King and Queen drove up Castle . Hill to see the Sheriff Court, which is tho subject of great coi?troversv between those wishing to pull it down and to erect the Scottish National Library on the site and those i wanting to preserve the old building, r The Queen went alone to the Ediii- !' burgh hospitals, and chatted with the patients. One Edinburgh mother will i. always remember the Royal visit. Her y baby was born only a few hours before tho Queen arrived at the Elsie Inglis Maternity Hospital, and she told the Queen that she would call it Agnes Mary and May for short. * Near the Queen Mary's Nursing f J Home, the Royal car _ stopped outside b a, private house while a detective i borrowed an umbrella from the surprised housewife to protect the Queen from rain as she left the car. At the t Home the Queen delighted a French t woman patient by carrying on a long s conversation with her in French. While the kitchen staff were making r gooseberry jelly in walked the Queen, ; and her Majesty spent a long time observing th# cooking processes.