KING'S 60th BIRTHDAY

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 29, 3 August 1925, Page 14

KING'S 60th BIRTHDAY

CELEBRATIONS IN LONDON

BRILLIANT MILITARY PAGEANT

POPULAR DEMONSTRATIONS,

(WOM OUS OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

LONDON, sth June,

Many New Zealanders in London attended the' great military pageantstrooping ths, colour^-this week, when His Majwty the King was honoured on his sixtieth birthday. Ideal weather brought to the heart of London a gathering unequalled in numbers at any similar ceremony since the war. The pageant waa something more than tne moist finished display of military precision that any army in the world can show. It was London's congratulations to the King, not only on the occasion of his birthday, but a recognition of satisfaction on his complete restoration to health. The' presence as the honoured guest of His Majesty of Marshall Foch, Fold-Marshal of Great Britain as well as Marshal of France, added further importance to the occasion. By 10.45, when the Queen arrived by way of Whitehall to take her place with Princess Mairy and the Duchess of York at the window above the Horse Guards Arch, the troops were in position.' Guardsmen lined the four sides of the gravel paflade ground and the approach from the Mall. The eight guards for the day, consisting of three officers and 68 men each, were drawn up in line forming two sides of a square facing the saluting base. On the right, ■ facing the Admiralty, were the massed bands of the Brigade of Guards. Scarlet tunics and black bearskins, pipeclayed belts and rifle slings, burnished bayonets, and the gold lace and brass of mounted officers' saddle furniture gloamod in the sunshine against the fresh green of the park. Most brilliant of all, on the right of the line, against the Scottish Office, was the band of tho Life Guards, (Ist and 2nd) in their goldlaced frocks and black velvet caps, half the men mounted on greys and half on blacks. THE ROYAL PROCESSION The King.rodo to the parade ground from Buckingham Palace <at the head of a brilliant procession. Ho wore the scarlet uniform of the Irish .Guards, of which ha is Colonel-in-Chief. It was the Irish Guards who had the honour of finding the escort for the colour in the subsequent ceremonial. Immediately in the rear' Of the King rode a distinguished company of Royal Princes, army chiefs, and representatives of foreign Powers. The absence of the Prince of Wales, who is away from England, was generally noted, but there were present Field-Marshall the Duke of Connaught^,-the Duke of York (in Air Force blue), and Prince Henry (in Hussar .uniform). With them was Captain Viscount Lascelles, in the uniform of the Grenadier Guards. Marshal Foch had been sent specially to represent the French Government at this birthday celebration. If Marshal Foch eeemed physically overshadowed among the -towering bearskins around him, he made ajrimpresdon all his own. Hjp. sky-blue uniform wa» in complete cohtrait with the scarlet of those about, him, Ba w*» all vivaolty and alertness, miaeing. notMng, and finding mnch m,.th« day'g proceedings upon which to comment, After the Master of the Horse (the Earl, of Granard), Goldatick-in-Waiting, and the Equernes-in-Waiting rode the. Service chiefs, General the Earl of Cavan (Chief of the Imperial General Staff), Lleutenant-General Sir R. Whigham (Adjutant-General to the Forces), Lieutenant-General Sir W. Campbell (Quartermaster-General), and LieutenantrGeneral Sir N. Birch (Master-Gen-eral; of the Ordnance). Lieutenant-Gen-eral Sir A. E. Codrington and FieldMarshal Lord Methuen rode in the procession as Colonels of the Coldstream' Guards and, Scots Guards respectively. - ARRIVAL OF THE KING Among .all. the impresive scenes of the now; familiar, "trooping" ceremony, there was nine that delighted the eye more than thpse attending the actual arrival of the King upon the parade ground. When ths King's grey charger appeared at the bottom of the descent from the Mall repeated cheers were raised by' the crowd, and these continued as the procession slowly filed along the north side of tho square towards tho saluting 1 base. Arriving opposite the arch, the King drew up and saluted ceremoniously the Queen and the Eoyat ladies, his example being followed by thoao attending him. Then, facing the parade, the King took the 1 ealute as the massed bands played the National Anthem and the troops presented arms. Followed by the Duke of Connaught and Marshal Foch, the King then rode through the lines upon his tour of inspection, the cavalcade with its exuberant colourings moving entrancingly in his wake. Returning to the saluting base, His Majesty took up a- position just in •front of the archway, to view tho trooping ceremony, the officers accompanying disposing themselves on either ...hand just behind him. Tho colour having boon received by the ensign of No. 1 Guard (Irish Guards), tho National Anihem was played, and then, to the tunes "Les Huguenots" and "El Abanico," the colour was duly "troopEd!" down the lines in slow and quick time. ON THE PALACE BALCONY Finally, the Guards marched past, first in.'slow and in quick time, and massed bands playdng appropriate marches for each of the battalions represented. Hay- ' ing reformed in line, the troops were led off the parade by the Household Cavalry to the strains of "Old Comrades," "For Flag and Empire," and "The Red ■ Cloak." As the King's Guard approached the saluting base, his Majesty placed himself ;it their head for * the march back to Hie Palace. Tho Duko of York and Frinco Henry, with other rnornixjrs of the procession, took up positions at tho rear of the eight guards. Tho Queen, Princess Mary, and the Dur.hcss of York re-entered their carriage at the Horso Guards, as soon as tho ceremony was over, and drove via ; Whitehall and the Mall to tho Palace i to'view the King's return from the bal- ■ cony. Thousands of pcoplo gathered outside Buckingham Palace to see the ceremony of relieving tho King' Guard, during which the massed hands played in tho forecourt. At its conclusion His Majesty, with the Queen, who wa3 wearing a pale blue dress and toque, Princess Mary, and tho Duchess of York, I appeared on a balcony to acknowledge the greetings of. his people. l"A Bachelor Gay" has little at stake, j!A bachelor gay is mostly a, ralce, 'Ha, sparkles, at night but yawn 3 thro' tho • day, ■ ■ Such j» iKft waj of "A Bachelor Gar." iAlas for-fits lungs of each gay old rlojr DoUderiofr-'home thro' the midnight log, His only bottta for good, bo sure, . Us lilted -with Woods' Great PecDcrwint Cure—Adv*