WELCOME TO DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21437, 1 April 1935, Page 11

WELCOME TO DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

— GUILDHALL LUNCHEON PRINCE URGES PEOPLE TO SEE EMPIRE (HJUTISU OBTIUAL. WlttELElio.'. RUGBY, March 29. : At the Guildhall luncheon in honour of the Duke of Gloucester the distinguished .guests included the Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr. Cosmo Gordon Lang), the Prime Minister (Mr Ramsay Mac Donald) arid members of the Cabinet. The city's address of welcome referred to the service done by the tour in strengthening the ties which bind together the peoples of the Empire in their loyalty and devotion to the Throne and to the person of the King. In reply the Duke said that in every part of the Empire he visited * he received the same enthusiastic demonstration of loyalty as greeted the King and Queen, his brothers and the Duchess of Ifork on similar tours. Proposing the toast of the Duke the Prime Minister said the sincere interest his Royal Highness took in the daily lot and interests of all he met showed the Royal quality of instinctive human understanding and sympathy which generates the truest loyalty among the King's subjects. This personal touch, by its immediate effect and the memories of it, exerted a powerful grip on the heart of the Commonwealth of Nations and enabled it to develop as a new and noble type of world empire. Mr Mac Donald adapted Drayton's lines: "Gloster that Duke so good Next of the Royal blood For famous England stood With his brave brothers." The Duke, in reply, said he regarded it as his great good fortune that he had been given the opportunity of seeing so much of the Empire and its people. He urged his fellow-countrymen to travel themselves and see the Empire. Through Sir James Parr (High Commissioner for New Zealand) and Mr J. A. Lyons (Prime Minister) he thanked the Governments. The majestic pageantry of the ceremony was enhanced by Life Guards' trumpeters and the Royal Artillery Band. The lofty interior of the Guildhall presented an impressive spectacle, with the bannered walls, emblazoned windows, historic groups of sculpture and the unequalled display of gold and silver plate. Two white-capped whiteJacketed cooks carved the barons of beef on an elevated platform.