ROYAL VISIT TO WEST INDIES

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27169, 13 October 1953, Page 2

ROYAL VISIT TO WEST INDIES

Bermuda And Jamaica Prepare

ANCIENT BRITISH COLONIES (From a Reuter Correspondent.) HAMILTON, (BERMUDA.) Bermuda, first official stop on the tour of the Queen and th* Duke of Edinburgh, is smartening itself up for tha first visit of a reigning sovereign in its more than 300 years as Britain’s eldest self-governing colony. The Royal couple will be in the colony for only 20 hours, on November 24-25, on their way by air from Britain to Jamaica but, during that short time, the Queen and her Consort will visit the length and breadth of these tiny islands. Only a short section of the route will be covered by horse and carriage, which, until 1946, when the ban on the use of motor-cars by anyone except the Governor was lilted, was Bermuda’s fashionable mode of travel.

For most of their journeys across this 24-mile long, 21 square miles in area I isiand the Que«i and the Duke will riae in two convertible English cars especially imported for the occasion. The hignlight of their visit will be the Queen s address to a joint session oi tne House of Assembly and Legislative Counci£-the olaest colonial parliament of tne Empire, which dates back to August 162 U.

Tne itinerary for the Queen’s visit will give full opportunity lor the colony’s 38,000 population, together with the thousands of American servicemen and tourists who will mingle with them, to see the Sovereign and her Consort. But a Chamber of Commerce decision to reserve 1200 seats on stands in the main street of the capital for American tourists is already a subject of controversy. Many people think that Bermuda’s school children should have the seats.

After their arrival by Stratocruiser at 10 a.m., the Royal couple will have a full day of greetings, Royal processions, addresses, a sjx-mile trip by ferry boat through the Little and Great Sounds to the western end of the colony, a garden party at Government House and a State dinner given by the Governor (Lieutenant-General Sir Alexander Hood) and Lady Hood. Next morning, November 25, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are scheduled to leave Government House at 5.30 a.m. for the airfield where they will- take off again for Jamaica where, a few hours away, new scenes and new duties await them.

The Queen’s first glimpse of her ancient colony of Jamaica will be of a curving blue bay lipped with creamy white sand, and beyond the shoreline with its waving coconut palms, a green-blue backdrop of mountain reaching down to the water’s edge. She will be looking at Jamaica’s second city, the tourist town of Montego Bay, on the island’s romantic north coast. As her Stratocruiser touches down on the island’s second airport, Her Majesty will look out on a scene which has never failed to bring a sparkle to the eyes of the firsttime visitor to Jamaica. Perpetual Summer Two nights after leaving England, Her Majesty will step out of the aircraft into a semi-tropical climate, for although it will be November, this is a land of perpetual summer. It will not be the coolest time of the year—cooler weather starts in December—but there should be a brisk breeze to temper the heat of the warm sunshine. After being welcomed at the airport by the leaders of the island, headed by the Governor (Sir Hugh Foot), one of the Commonwealth’s youngest colonial governors, and also by representatives of other territories in the British West Indies who have been invited for the occasion by the Jamaican Legislature, the Queen will drive through the streets of Montego Bay and then start the long drive over to Kingston, the island’s capital.

Her Majesty will pass along stretches of coast road where the sea is gently washing the white-sand beach and the coconut palms curve gracefully towards the water. On the land side, will be the lush green of the canefields, soon to be cut when the sugar season starts, rich banana fields, or rolling pasture lands with sleek cattle grazing in the sun. Many towns and villages will be passed, showing an interesting juxtaposition of old Spanish names, Rio Bueno, Ocho Rios and others, with names which were brought out by the early British settlers, names as familiar as Falmouth and Llandovery and Albion.

All along the route, in the towns and villages and at crossroads, thousands of Jamaicans will greet the Queen with flags and bunting, and with arches and banners. Her car will slow down at many points to give her subjects a chance to see their young Queen, whose Coronation they celebrated with such enthusiasm. As a break in this long journey, the Queen will stop for informal rest and bathe, as well as a picnic lunch, at one of the beautiful beaches along the north shore. From wintry November in England, she will be transported to sparkling sunshine and a warm, translucent sea. Finally, as dusk is falling, the Queen will come into Kingston and go to King’s House, the Governor’s residence, which will be her headquarters during her stay. Farewell Parade , Formal receptions, military parades, drives and visits to places of interest in this old colony will occupy much of the next two days for the Queen. On her last day in Jamaica before leaving for New Zealand the Queen will go in the afternoon to Port Royal, Jamaica’s most historically famous town, where she will walk the same streets as Nelson and Morgan, two of the great seafaring names associated with Jamaica. She will see the quarterdeck where Nelson himself stood and read the proud inscription at Fort Charles: “In this place dwelt Horatio Nelson. You who tread his footsteps remember his glory.” She will also visit the old church of St. Peter’s and see the drinking mug used by Sir Henry Morgan, buccaneer Governor of Jamaica in the rowdy days when Port Royal was known as the “wickedest city on earth.” Something of the glory that was old Port Royal before one third of it was swallowed up by the sea in a great earthquake anc. tidal wave will be recaptured in a farewell parade in honour of the Queen at the old parade ground of the town. The Queen will say farewell and go by launch from the end of the parade ground to the waiting liner, the Gothic, which will take her and the Duke to New Zealand. Her last sight of Jamaica as the ship steams slowly out of Port Royal will be of crowds waving goodbye from the shore and majestic mountains looming against the skyline in the evening light.