ATFIELD HOUSE PARTY

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27055, 2 June 1953, Page 7

ATFIELD HOUSE PARTY

’ lB and MRS HOLLAND ATTEND '2 PJhJ LONDON, May 31. of Commonwealth visitors “dor- were the guests of the MarJP* Marchioness of Salisbury at party at Hatfield House. today. Queen Elizabeth J“**ii Mother attended the party. Un 1 ” 811 2000 distinguished guests L*u Wer the world were invited. Zealand Prime Minister presented his wife and I w to th§ Queen Mother.

The army of “squatters” grew as the morning advanced. Extra squads of sweepers were employed to clean up the overnight litter.

As the spring cleaning went on, the area near Buckingham Palace and the Mall took on added beauty. Workmen fringed it with brilliant red geraniums and pastel blue hydrangeas in pots. All stands round the Victoria Memorial were garlanded with flowers. Along the Queen’s processional route, already thronged with sightseers by 7 a.m., hundreds of workmen engaged today in a race against time to get the last decorations in place. In Westminster Abbey, everything is now ready, but cleaners will be busy there all day. With dawn today, came reinforcements to join the patient groups who had already spent one night of their 48-hour vigil before the procession in Trafalgar and Parliament squares. Fresh groups settled down with parcels of food and drink, and prepared for a 30-hour wait.

The scene along the Mall towards Buckingham Palace resembled a battlefield, as the early-morning sun broke through a cloudy sky. Soon after dawn, more than 250 persons, most of them women, were lying on the pavements. They were wrapped in blankets or sleeping bags, with food and cooking utensils beside them. Troops’ Final Rehearsal

Most of those who spent the night in the open were awakened by a dawn parade of British and Colonial troops and Royal Naval officers, who marched 12 abreast through the heart of London In a final timing rehearsal.

Three young New Zealand girls staked a claim to one vantage point in the Mall. One of them, Miss Natalie Black, from Middlemarch, said, “We have a blanket to cover us, a newspaper to sit on, socks to darn, and letters to write. We’ve brought plenty of energy food, like dates, glucose, and cheese.”

Several hundred spectators watched the changing of the sentries outside Buckingham Palace at 5 a.m. Among them were two Maori schoolteachers, Mr Nahono Curry, aged 23, from Tiki Tiki, and Mr Winiata Stevens, aged 28. from Wellington. Both worked in Australia to raise money for their passages to Europe, and hitch-hiked from Italy to London to see the Coronation celebrations. Almost from dawn there was a steady flow of private cars along the Coronation procession route. Then buses and trains began to bring Londoners to work and visitors to jam the pavements again on sightseeing tours. One of the main centres of interest today was Parliament square, where the air was heavy with the perfumes of exotic blooms flown from all parts of the British Dominions, including Australia and New Zealand. Men and women, with practised skill and speed, last night planted the flowers in peat. The flowers are supported with wire netting. Buildings Transformed Flowers have transformed the ususfl dulness of Government buildings. In Parliament square, the stands have been fashioned into things of beauty. Their Royal blue canopies, which form a roof over almost the whole square, proudly bear the coats of arms of British boroughs. The stands to be occupied by Commonwealth guests carry the emblems of their countries. The Westminster Abbey annex, specially built for the Coronation, is like a fairy-story palace of gold and white, with the enormous outer wall glistening in white opaque glass. The centrepiece is a gigantic golden replica of the Royal Coat of Arms, suspended over the entrance through which the Queen will pass into the Abbey. The most attractive of all the streets, perhaps, is Pall Mall, the home of fashionable clubs, which presents a blaze of soft colours from continuous rows of three and four-tier stands. Hyde Park is lined with emblems of the services taking part in the proCf Great four-cornered arches of blue and gold span the wide .Mall. From the centre of each arch is suspended a hugh crown of metal filigree.