“MY LAST GLIMPSE OF THE KING”

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 101, 23 January 1936, Page 11

“MY LAST GLIMPSE OF THE KING”

Wellington Woman’s Letter

DRIVING IN STATE THROUGH LONDON

Particularly appropriate at present comes a letter from a Wellington woman in London, describing how from a window of New Zealand House she saw the late King driving in state along the Strand, at the celebration of his Jubilee last year. To many travelled New Zealanders the memory of King George V will remain indelibly associated W’ith some such glimpse of him, passing on a State occasion through the crowded London streets. “That day there were 150 people at New Zealand House, to see the Royal procession passing up the Strand, as the King and Queen went to rhe Jubilee service at St. Paul’s,” runs the letter. “This doesn’t sound a great number, but it was bard work to find them all places at the windows. Jubilee Day was gloriously sunny, a welcome change from the grey and chilly weather the previous week. The horde of visitors were let in at 8.30 a.m., and‘waited patiently through the long hours until the procession arrived. Many had got up soon after dawn. “The day before, I had risen early to see the decorations and had driven over the whole, of the route to be followed by their Majesties. The streets were beautiful. The royal parks behind the stands built by the Government to hold some 26,000 people showed the delicate green of the trees. “On the morning of the procession the Strand was a sea of people as far as the eye could reach in either direction, with a double line of policemen and soldiers holding the crowds back. For about two hours before the King came there rolled by the cars of guests driving to St. Paul’s. As the Prime Ministers of the self-governing Dominions drove past New Zealand House, the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes and Mrs. Forbes, of course, looked up at us and waved. By the time the Royal Family approached, one was so excited one could hardly take in the significance of what one saw. “ “Of course they passed rather quickly. After the long waiting it was soon over—but it was well worth the vigil. The Duchess of Kent happened to look up as she passed, and the little princesses, too. The Queen, in. the Roja carriage, sat ou the far side, but I could see her clearly. She looked most stately and regal. Beside her was the King, sitting upright and still, as he drove through the thousands of his subjects. I wondered what he must be thinking, passing along those gailydeeorated streets, with a roar of cheering accompanying him alt the way. It was a day no one will forget who saw it. ...”