PALACE PARTY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20636, 16 August 1941, Page 6

PALACE PARTY

SOVIET AMBASSADOR A NOTABLE GATHERING GUESTS OF KING & QUEEN LONDON. July 2S. M. Maisky, Soviet Ambassador to. Britain, spent a social afternoon drinking tea and chatting with four of che crowned heads of Europe, numerous lesser “royalties,” and 200 other distinguished guests at Buckingham Palace, writes Paul Biewsher in the Daily Mail. The genial little man with the twinkling eyes who represents thlie Soviet Socialist Republic was a fellow guest of the King and Queen with the heads, crowned and un- . crowned, of all the European States which have become Russia's “comrades and Allies.” Is was an historic —and a secret —party. Safeguard Against an Attack Although it was the biggest and most important one given by the King and Queen this year, not the slightest indication of it had been revealed beforehand—as a safeguard against an enemy air attack. So it was that only a handful of people saw the King of Norway and Prince Olaf; Queen Wilhelmina and Prince Bernhard;King Peter of Yugoslavia and Queen Marie; the Czecho-Slovakian President and Mme Benes; and the Polish President and Mme Raczkiewicz when they left the palace. Mr. Winston Churchill and members of the War Cabinet, the Dominion representatives, and most of the Diplomatic Corps, including M. Maisky, also drove out almost unseen. Cheerful and Informal It was a cheerful and informal tea party held in the large Bow Room, overlooking the palace gardens. Strawberries and ices were served, in accordance with Buckingham Palace tradition, and a military band played soft music. The King was in naval uniform, and the Queen in a most attractive dovegrey dress with grey ostrich feathers in her hat. With them was 15-years-old Princess Elizabeth, also in grey, who helped her mother and father entertain the guests. The Duchess of Kent, tall and cool in a white summer frock with black spots and a dark sailor hat with a veil and the Duke of Gloucester, in military uniform, were other members of the British Royal Family there. Many of the cars—economising in petrol—were almost overcrowded. King Haakon, for instance, was tightly packed in the back' of his with Prince Olaf and another Norwegian. Some of the prominent guests were picked up at the Privy Council door—the King’s own front door —by taxicabs which had been summoned from a rank, and a number of guests walked home.