HANDSHAKES BY PRINCESS

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26648, 6 February 1952, Page 7

HANDSHAKES BY PRINCESS

MODERATION URGED (Special Correspondent (Rec.7lo p.m.) LONDON, Feb. 5. “Save the Princess this torture," says a special correspondent of the “Daily Mirror” in supporting Mr Holland’s appeal that there be as little handsnaking as possible during the Royal tour of New Zealand. The correspondent, who says she conducted a “mass handshaking experiment” and shook hands 250 times a day for a week, says the results proved that the custom was not only tiring but dangerous, and that the time had come for a drastic change in Royal etiquette. “Princess Elizabeth, after the Queen, shakes hands more than any woman in England, and once the Gothic reaches Ceyloh and the tour proper begins, there will be no respite from the queue of outstretched hands. Each handclasp will bring added strain. “Nor is it an exaggeration to say that real injury can result. Last year, the wife of the Ceylon High Commissioner dislocated her wrist after shaking hands With 500 guests at a reception. The Duke of Windsor, after his Canadian tour as Prince of Wales, had sore arms and bandaged shoulders. Field-Marshal Montgomery injureihis hand after a tour of hearty Australian handshaking. “I believe that handshaking should be abolished altogether as a mass custom when meeting Royalty. What is wrong with a bow and curtsey?. A handshake can become a form of attack. It has no place in relations between Royalty and the people.”