INVESTITURE BY QUEEN

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28447, 29 November 1957, Page 2

INVESTITURE BY QUEEN

Ceremony At Palace An investiture at Buckingham Palace was described in a letter written, by Mrs Joan Shaw, the daughter of Mr and Mrs V. C. Browne, Cashmere, in a letter written at Hemel, Hampstead, on November 20. It was received by her parents in Christchurch this week. It was a grey but not too cold a day and there were about 200 recipients, each with two or more friends in the audience, said Mrs Shaw. The investiture was held upstairs in the ballroom which was furnished in deep red, gilt and cream. It had six enormous crystal chandeliers and there were two thrones at one end of the dias. Continuous light music was provided by the orchestra in the gallery at the other end of the room.

The Queen, who was dressed quietly in a fitting ice-blue frock, entered at 10.30 a.m. and stood while the National Anthem was played. Mrs Shaw said.' “The Queen spoke to all the recipients at more length to the few’ women and especially to those with a modest manner and interesting faces,” she said.

Presenting Mr Shaw, a director of Aircraft Research, Ministry of Supply, with the 0.8. E., the Queen said she was very trappy to make the presentation and asked what was his work. She then pinned on the medal, said Mrs Shaw.

Half the recipients were in morning dress and the other half were in lounge suits, and Mrs Shaw wore an Ascot grey dress, with a rose-red wide beret and matching shoes. She carried a fur stole.