THE KING AND HIS OVERSEA SOLDIERS.

Evening Star, Issue 14635, 3 August 1911, Page 5

THE KING AND HIS OVERSEA SOLDIERS.

LOYALTY OVERCOMES DISCIPLINE. [From Oun Special Correspondent-! ' . LONDON, June 23. There was a very stirring scene—the more effective because it was altogether •spontaneous—on the return of their Majestic! to the Palace. That the King and Queen would show themselves to their people was expected, because that was in accordance with precedent, but nobody could have foreseen the effect upon the crowd-and upon the troops. It was just one of those outbursts of human sympathy and feeling that will occasionally break through the fetters of ceremonial and reveal the heart of the multitude. It was the one touch needed to round off the gorgeous and memorable scones of the day, and it was easy to see that it apepaled profoundly to the King and Queen. Their Majesties had not been within the Palace five minntee, and the echoes of the cheering of the crowd had barely died away, when a French window loading to the balcony oyer the central archway opened, and tho King and Queen stepped out. His Majesty, who was wearing his Coionation'robes and his crown, turned and gave his hand to the Queen, who joined him on tho verandah. There they stood, hand in hand, bowing a final farewell to the assemblage in Victoria Gardens and the Mall. , The effect was electrical. People near At hand had their attention called, and others who wore moving away were surprised in turn. It. was as though the throng were being simultaneously moved by gone gigantic piece of mechanism, and almost immediately the crowned King and Queen were looking upon a sea oi upturned faces. Then tho surface of the sea rippled, and a -'beer, swelling into a tu ; multuous roar, burst from thousands of throats. But the mest stirring part was that played by tho troops. Empire detachments were posted near the railings, and when they heard the cheers and saw tho occasion, their loyalty was too much for discipline, or else they thought it was an occasion on which they were entitled to give vent to their feelings. At all events, they joined lustily in the cheering, and sonic of them waved their rifles aloft.

The enthusiasm was contagious, and officers, raising their drawn swords, waved them vigorously and joined heartily in the cheers. It was a scene without parallel in the history of English Court ceremonies, and will long be remembered as one of the chief features of a most memorable day. The King and Queen bowed low again and again, and then, hand in hand, stepped back into tha Palace