Princess And Duke At Service In Ramsey Abbey

Northern Advocate, 24 November 1947, Page 4

Princess And Duke At Service In Ramsey Abbey

LONDON, Sun. (11 a.m.). —Crowds began assembling along the roads leading to Romsey Abbey where Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh attended service at 11.15 a.m. Seventy police controlled the crowds on foot and in cars. Seating was provided in the abbey for 700, including local dignitaries. About 1200 attended. The Princess wore her mist-blue going away hat with a blue suit. The Duke wore a blue-grey lounge suit but no hat.

The weather was cloudy but a stiff breeze fluttered the hundreds of flags and pennants decorating the town.

daughter nearer to every hearth and home in the Commonwealth, are epochs in its development.” The Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh are unlikely to leave Britain for any Empire tour until 1949, says the Sunday Express. The King has decided that although Australia, Canada, and South Africa have sent pressing invitations, it would not be right for them to leave Britain under present world conditions. The King may review his decision early in 1948. GERMAN’S GIFT A German in the United States sector of Berlin has sent the Princess a ring of diamonds and turquoise as a wedding present, says the correspondent of The Times in Berlin. In a covering letter to tne British Military Governor, General Sir Brian Robertson, the writer asked that his name should not be revealed. “I am a man without importance—just a common German citizen,” he said, “but I think we Germans should feel some obligation toward Britishers —and I myself have good reason for feeling so.”

Before the service the organist played “The Lord is My Shepherd, I Shall Not Want,” which is the Princess' favourite, and was sung at the wedding. The Princess and Duke joined in the singing of the hymns during the service' after which they walked up the crowded aisle into the brilliant sunshine which had broken through the clouds during the service. Crowds packed the churchyard, standing on chairs, boxes and tombstones and climbing trees. The couple drove through cheering crowds back to Broadlands where they posed for photographers. By 11 a.m. there was estimated to be 10,000 in Romsey, the normal populatibii.of which is 7000. Parked cars stretched for two miles along the main road. SHARE IN HAPPINESS Commenting upon how the Royal wedding broadcast sent the actual voices of the bride and bridegroom as they made their vows to people thousands of miles away and enabled millions to share in the happiness of a great occasion, The Times, in a leading article says:— ‘‘To those especially of the countries of the British Commonwealth, this admission to tne intimacy of a domestic event carried once more the message of the Royal idea that an Empire which has ceased to be a state may yet remain a family. “The warm affections by which that world-wide family is bound together grow only stronger with the years.

“Such events in its domestic life as this, which has brought the King’s