THE QUEEN IN PANAMA

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27211, 1 December 1953, Page 11

THE QUEEN IN PANAMA

President’s Banquet

At Palace

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

(Rec. 11.30 p.m.)

PANAMA CITY 7 , Nov. 30.

The President of Panama, Colonel Jose Antonio Remon, gave a banquet in honour of the Queen last night, in the dark-panelled dining-room of his white palace, on the shore of the Bay of Panama.

Panama people turned out in thousands, and lined the Avenida Central, lit brightly with multi-coloured electric lamps, to cheer the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh as they drove to the palace. The Queen wore white silk, with a diamond circlet, and the Duke wore a white dinner jacket.

Colonel Remon presented the Queen with the Gold Collar of the Order of Manuel Amador Guerrero—it was the first time the collar of the order had been presented to a reigning monarch. The Duke was presented with the Grand Cross of the same order.

The Queen, in return, presented the President with the insignia of the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (honorary), and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Jose Ramon Guizado, with the insignia of Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (honorary).

The gold collar was presented to the Queen in a newly created order, to be given only to heads of states. The Queen and the Duke, the President and the Foreign Minister, all wore their insignia at the banquet. The Queen sat on Colonel Remon's right at a horseshoe-shaped table, lit. with gold candelabra and ornamented with low banks of flowers. Before the banquet, the Queen and the Duke, as is customary for members of the Royal Family at home or abroad, attended Evensong in the Gothic with members of their household, Royal Navy officers, ratings, and members of the ship’s crew. The service was conducted by Dr. Heber Gooden, the Anglican Bishop of the Diocese in which Panama lies. After the banquet, the Queen and Duke attended a reception at which there were 300 guests—prominent Panamanians and members of diplomatic and consular corps. The Royal Party returned to the Gothic shortly before midnight. The Gothic will leave Panama this morning for Fiji. The Queen will leave Panama today with the distinction of being the most popular personage to visit it, a United Press correspondent reported from Balboa today. The correspondent said the Queen and the Duke had proved a greater draw with the crowds during their one-day visit yesterday than Mr Roosevelt or President Eisenhower. The crowds in the Canal Zone and in the Panama republic were about as big as those which gathered to see Mr Roosevelt, but he made his visit during the war, when the civilian population was twice as big as it is now. “As the Queen leaves, she will leave behind a memory of flowers and funmaking on an isthmus on which the English and Spanish blood mixed in battle during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The new Elizabeth has erased all traces of resentment that might have remained from the day when the privateers of Queen Bess roamed the Spanish Main,” said the correspondent.