“Queen Should Reside In Commonwealth Countries”

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28795, 16 January 1959, Page 11

“Queen Should Reside In Commonwealth Countries”

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

LONDON, January 14. Lord Altrincham, said today that Queen Elizabeth, as head of the Commonwealth, must cease to be a resident of the United Kingdom, and reside “more or less impartially” in other Commonwealth countries. He told a luncheon meeting of the Commonwealth Correspondents’ Association that the Queen “must stop wasting her precious time in footling activities —many of her activities are footling—in the United Kingdom when she could be serving a much wider, and indeed a world-wide community. Lord Altrincham, aged 35, is the editor of the monthly “National and English Review.” Speaking to the Commonwealth correspondents today on “the Queen’s role in the modern Commonwealth,” he said in this capacity she had a duty and an opportunity to give a lead by precept, and even more by example, to the Commonwealth as a whole, and this would mean a “drastic change” in her official routine. • He said the Queen, in her excellent Christmas broadcast, had referred to travels she and others of the Royal Family would undertake.

“This was si good sign but travel is not enough,” he said.

“She must cease to be a resident of the United Kingdom and a mere tourist in other countries of the Commonwealth. Lord Altrincham described as “official boloney” suggestions that the Queen’s family life would suffer if she were to reside more or less impartially in different parts of the Commonwealth. The Royal children, thanks to air travel, would be able to join their parents for holidays wherever they happened to be, and they would grow up as true citizens of the Commonwealth, he said. “Based On U.K.” Lord Altrincham said that at the moment everything was treated as secondary to the Queen’s duties as national sovereign in the United Kingdom, and her life was still based upon the United Kingdom. The Queen must not be afraid to proclaim and assert the principles of the Commonwealth, even if these brought her into conflict with national Governments. “If it should be found that her functions as sovereign of this or that nation are incompatible with her role as head of the Commonwealth, she must sacrifice the former for the latter,” he said. He said his proposals were asking a lot of a human being, but it was a sign of admiration and confidence in his feeling that the Queen was capable of discharging her great work and making it a success.