STIRRING SCENE

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7869, 3 August 1911, Page 10

STIRRING SCENE

THE KING AND HIS OVERSEA SOLDIERS. LOYALTY OVERCOMES DISCIPLINE. FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT. LONDON, Juno 23. There was a very stirring .scone —the' more effective because it was altogether spontaneous —on the, return of their Majesties 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 ono 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 scenes of the day, and it was easy to see that it appealed profoundly to/ the King and Queen. Their Majesties had not been within tho Palace hvo minutes and the echoes of the cheering of the crowd had barely died away when a French window leaning to the balcony over tho central archway opened and the King and Queen stepped out. His Majesty, who was wearing his Coronation robes and his crown, turned and gave his hand to the Queen, who joined him on the verandah. There they stood, hand in hand, bowing a final farewell to the assemblage in Victoria Gardens and tho Mall. The effect was electrical. People near at hand had their attention called, and others who were moving away were apprised in turn. It was as though the throng were being simultaneously moved by some gigantic piece of mechanism,, and almost immediately the crowned King and Queen were looking upon a sea of upturned faces. Then tho surface of the sea rippled and a cheer, swelling into a turnuituousi roar, burst from thousands of throatsBut the most stirring part was that played by the troops. Empire detachments were posted near the railings, and when they 'heard the cheers and saw the occasion of them 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 some of them waved their rifles aloft. The enthusiasm was contagious, and officers, raising their drawn swords, waved them vigorously and joined Ueartily in the cheersIt was a scene without parallel in the history of English Court ceremonies, and will long bo remembered as one of tho chief features of a inost memorable day. The King and Queen bowed low again and again; and then, hand in hand, stopped back into the palace.