When Princess Elizabeth Marries

Northern Advocate, 8 January 1947, Page 5

When Princess Elizabeth Marries

In every Empire country increasing attention i§ being paid to the personal life of the 20-year-old girl who is heiress presumptive to the Throne. Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor is of marriageable age, and millions of people whose allegiance she would claim as Queen Elizabeth 11, feel towards her a sense of loyal kinship which will extend to the man she 'marries. One thing seems certain; when the Princess marries her husband will be of her own choosing.

Who. will that man be? Nowadays the Princess often goes to dances in private homes ,and is seen at selected supper-cabarets, enjoying the theatre with happy groups—often in the stalls rather than the Royal box. She is always, attended by young men wno claim personal friendship. Will one of these be the favoured suitor for the Royal hand? There have already been many rumours—but only rumours.

HER FATHER'S CHARACTERISTICS

This modern Princess lias none of the haughty imperiousness of the first Elizabeth, who laid the foundation of the British Empire three and a half centuries ago, and still less of the straight-laced temper of her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria.

Instead she inherits the shy seriousness of her father, has a placid disposition and studious inclinations, and is probably incapable of losing her temper.

No heir to the Throne ever had a more homely or democratic upbringing.! Never before has the daughter of a British King been brought into such close contact with the people or so thoroughly adapted the Royal way of life to the spirit of the age in which she lives.

When the war ended, Princess Elizabeth and younger sister Margaret returned from country seclusion to the bomb-stricken capital. They appeared to have suddenly grown up. Princess Elizabeth was an accomplished selfpossessed young woman, rather plump and buxom, with a strong, sturdy constitution; all traces of girlish gauchcvie were gone. ' The change was startling, and not a little disturbing. The people had been thinking of their Princess in terms of pretty child portraits and amusing nursery anecdotes. Now she had blossomed into a vital person—adult, mature. SAFETY OF CROWN Before this metamorphosis was completely absorbed, an event occurred which threw speculation into even sharper locus —the election of the present Labour Government. Abolition of the Crown has no place in Labour’s’ programme. Neither the gicat Con-

servative defeat nor the earlier forced abdication of King Edward VIII has weakened tha average Englishman’s instinctive acknowledgment of the value of the Monarchy as an abovcpart.y symbol of the nation’s strength and unity. There is no Englishman alive who is yet convinced that an elected president is better than an hereditary King. Nevertheless, it would be foolish to reject summarily the possibility of a future trial of strength between the Labour Government and the House of Lords over the Government’s socialisation programme, a struggle which could, by tactless handling, conceivably involve the very safety of the Crown.

Would the return of a tjueen to the British Throne weaken or strengthen the unquestionable hold which the Roydl House of Windsor now enjoys over the minds of the people? Above all, could Elizabeth be that , 'sort of Queen? The list of the Princess’s escorts, and those who have been linked with her in gossip, is large and still growing. Prince Philip of Greece and Prince George of Denmark have been the most frequently-mentioned “possibilities of Royal blood.Of late Prince Philip’s name has been repeated with growing insistence. A youhg English peer, Lord Wj'fold, has also drawn some attention. Others of less exalted rank include Mr Michael Naylor-Ley-land, of the Life Guards. Captain lan MoncriefTe, Major Eric Penn, Captain R. W. Humphreys, and Mr Peter Ashmore, R.N. LIKE VICTORIA’S HUSBAND But whoever wins the hand of the greatest heiress in the world, be lie prince or peasant, will find that tne pattern of his life was laid down firmly nearly a hundred years ago. Queen Victoria decided tor all time what was to be the role of a Consort in Britain. She promised to obey Albert as her husband; be swore to obey her as his Quen. The man Princess Elizabeth weds, like Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, will have very limited state functions and no constitutional powers, but his character, temperamental influence over the Queen, and his readiness to adapt himself to the democratic times in which we live, may make or mar the reign. There appears to be no favourite among the host of young admirers of her immediate acquaintance. Elizabeth herself is extremely reticent upon the point, and discourages even private discussion of the topic. She has been going to the theatre with a number of young peers, some of them still in uniform, some only recently demobilised —but the faces keep changing.