EAST END WELCOME

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22623, 28 April 1948, Page 5

EAST END WELCOME

ROYAL COUPLE’S DRIVE LONDON, April 26. Their Majesties set out from Buckingham Palace at 5.34 p.m. amid sunshine and the roar of waiting thousands for the 22-mile tour of London in an open car. The King wore the uniform of an Admiral of the Fleet, and the Queen wore a blue hat and coat. Royal Car Slowed Down Members of the Palace lined up at the Palace gates to give Their Majesties a send off. The Queen smiled radiantly and His Majesty acknowledged the cheers of the crowd waiting outside the gates. The tour was mainly through the East End and London’s dockland and the roads they travelled include Mile End road East Indian Dock road and Old Kent road. The East Enders' whole-hearted enthusiasm caused the Royal car to take two hours to drive 22 miles. The car was forced to travel at between five and eight miles an hour instead of the planned 12 miles an hour. The crowd, in its fervent enthusiasm, at some points broke through the police cordon and swamped the road. The police had difficulty in clearing the route just outside St. James' Park and at Peckham. Children’s Wild Welcome East End children emerged from drab houses and rushed from their bomb site playgrounds to shriek welcomes to Their Majesties Hoxton youngsters pealed a royal welcome to the Royal pair with century-old handbells borrowed from Hoxton's Holy TrinityChurch Children predominated in the enthusiastic crowds which lined Mile End road. Many housewives, who had spent hours queueing for food, still carried their shopping baskets as they waved to the happy Royal couple. Crowds at Vnuxhall Bridge lined the sides right across the river, just leaving room for their car. Their Majesties returned to Buckingham Palace 24 minutes late. Prolonged cheering brought Their Majesties, Princess Elizabeth, the Duke of Edinburgh and Princess Margaret on to the floodlit Palace balcony at 8.11 p.m.

The crowd's enthusiasm having upset the official schedule, Their Majesties had to hurry to the microphone for the broadcast within five minutes of reaching the Palace. The police estimated that at least 750,000 persons saw Their Majesties in their triumphal tour.