How New Zealanders saw the Procession

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7871, 5 August 1911, Page 17

How New Zealanders saw the Procession

JT is difficult to realise, even after many hours of more or less dreary waiting that the day for which the nation has waited over a year has dawned and now is setting. Yet from the roof of ! a house in Queen Anne’s Gate I have just seen the newly-crowned King and Queen and several other Royalties enter Buckingham Palace courtyard, and the long linos of soldiery allowed to stand at ■ ease—signs that the much-talked-of event is already a thing of the past, and another Coronation ready for the historian’s pen. Intermittent showers of rain have done

their best to mar the fine effect of the wonderful pageant and the atmosphere all day has been cold, grey and sulky, so that the almost awo-inspiring brilliance of the Royal procession on the day of the late King’s burial, when everything was bathed in what seemed then mocking sunshine, was to-day lacking. Nevertheless, in spite of depressing conditions, the scene outside the Abbey and at Buckingham Palace was one of the wildest enthusiasm, # and as the writer from her lofty position watched the two Sovereigns enter their carriage at the Abbey, and half an hour later, the Palace grounds, the cheers were more than mere dicers, and the air rang with mighty shouts of triumph, excitement and loyalty. Handkerchiefs, flags, flowers, and hats were waved till the owners’ arms must have ached, the military bands played again and again “God Save the King,” and each verse,; though it was repeated all along the route, was the signal for another wild outburst. It must have been an atmosphere to inspirit any monarch. There is something about English Royalty that seems in some indefinable fasiiion to identify it in a specially intimate way with the humblest of subjects, so that one cannot but come under

the spell it casts—a something gracious and lu no way patronising, far oi'i, yet very near, something chat would make it seem churlish and ungraceful to remain seated as the King and Queen pass. The Queen Like a Bride. This morning on her way to her crowning Queen Mary looked a queen indeed. Her face was very pale and

her lovely hair framing it in such soft golden waves gave her an ethereal loot altogether unlike the rather stern appearance she sometimes presents. In her wonderful white dress (the velvet robes wore assumed in the annexe at the Abbey) she looked very girlish and as if, instead of to her coronation, she was driving from her marriage to the slim, kindly-faced man at her side. The ! King was in crimson robes and a crimson velvet cap of State edged with ermine. Neither, of course, wore crowns. The State carriage is a magnificent equipage, a great golden coach swung high, with handpainted roof and side and back panels, and with quaint gilt figures at back and front. There is so much glass about it that the occupants can bo easily seen. The eight cream ponies with their elaborate harness and trappings of blue and red, managed by j gaily decorated postilions, gave the whole; thing an atmosphere, noticeable m ' smoky London, of fairyland. The carriage containing tho Loyal children preceded that of their parents, and in this the young Prince of Wales and Princess Mary were tho most striding figures. One seldom sees tho daughter without her mother, and it was again a scene from fairyland to watch the slender child, with her beautiful hair crowned with a wreath* of white roses, end wearing a dress of very soft white, bowing from side to side in acknowledgement of the greetings of her father's subjects with a gentle simplicity that could not but touch the hearts iof all she passed. She has a very elfec* 1 tive way of bowing slowly and very gracefully, and all could easily catch a glimpse of her. The appearance of Princess Patricia — the idol of all English hearts—is the signal for a burst of cheering wherever she happens to be, as indeed, is the advent of any of the much-loved Connaught family, and to-day there was a wild hubbub as she passed along. She, too, was unusually pale, but she kept her face with its adorable retrousse nose, close to the window and smiled and bowed all the time. Her sister* tho Crown Princess of Sweden, is another favourite and as she went by she waved her hand again and again, in reply to * tho cheers. Ambassadors drove by behind horses gaily caparisoned, Indians rode jin truly Eastern splendour of red, blue, 1 gold, white and green with shining swords upheld, squadrons of the magnificent Life Guards on magnificent chargers, of Loyal Horse Guards, of Jollylooking old Yeomen of the Guard, of Colonial cavalry (no New Zealanders, as they are on duty as escorts to-morrow) passed, and a brave group of field marshals and commanders who were unmercifully deluged with rain, but these all went by in a very short space, and at twenty minutes to 11, —ten minutes after thou* Majesties had left the Pa lace—Now Zealanders in the stand seem ed suddenly to realise that, for them tho whole thing was over,

From Our Lady Correspondent—London, June 22.

New Zealand Stand Badly Placed.

It was unfortunate that the New Zealand stand., filled as it was likely to bo, and was, with people who had conic thousands of miles to witness to-day’s procession, should have been put where it was, viz., just outside St. James* Palace in the Mall, and, so, at the gates of Buckingham Palace, instead of on the return route, an extensive one, where the King and Queen in their crowns and robes, the peers and peeresses in their's and the whole triumphant procession could ‘have been watched. As it was, the keenest disappointment was expressed on all sides. It had been generally hoped that, as the New Zea-land-arch has been erected in /Whitehall, the stand might somehow be identified with it. In that case, of course, there is no doubt that the price of seats would have had to be higher. At at was, after an incredulous craning of necks for more pageantry the occupants made their way homeward before 11, and in a somewhat depressed state of mind. The writer was more fortunate' than most, and from her position at Queen Anne’s Gate was able to overlook a side street in Westminster, where many of the State carriages belonging to the peei-s were kept in waiting for the conclusion of the service. Scores of coachmen and footmen in remarkably elaborate liveries and carriages and. horses in gay embroidered trappings were there, and after the King and Queen, to the ringing of joybells, the booming of guns and the excited cheering of the crowds, had left on their return journey, it was an amusing eight to watch the peers and their wives come down the road in search of their vehicles. Some were stately and portly old fellows dragging their dignified ruby velvets through the mud, others were young and pleased with the world and , swung their coronets, jewels downward, as a schoolboy holds his straw hat, and ; carried their silk-lined trains over their arms with gay abandon. Peeresses, too, and other ladies of high rank were obliged to come in search of their carriages as the carriages might not go in search of them, and the bustling scene with its bright colours and prancing horses, was decidedly worth seeing. The final scene from the roof left one with a magnificent picture in one’s mind. . Regiment after regiment, beautifully mounted, rode by through solid lines oT scarlet-clad men. Flags and banners waved on every side. Another great, blot of colour was supplied by lines of soldiery stationed round the Victoria Memorial, shining, startlingly white, in front of Buckingham Palace’s dusky solidity. Then came the gallant cream ponies drawing the King and Queen, and several other Royal carriages with their Royal freight—bands blared, the air rang with sound, and at the back of all hundreds of oak and maple trees stood like guardian giants. Then the carriages passed out of sight and it was all over. New Zealanders on the Stand. "■How jolly this is—just like a New Zealand picnic!" was the verdict of many New Zealanders as they took their places soon after 6 on the stand and greeted friends on all sides, then joined each other at impromptu breakfast parties. Certainly it all seemed far away from proper London. Thermos flasks containing tea (and other fluids!! were produced, and the contents criticised, sandwiches were exchanged and half shares in apples and pears gaily bartered for as if New Zealand bush and hill were near at hand, instead of thirteen thousand miles away. Torrents of rain were met with smiles, and X should have liked a snapshot of some of New Zealand’s most distinguished citizens, with expensive millinery doffed and large newspapers donned, sunbounet fashion, with | the greatest unconcern. Much amuseI meat was caused after tho oft-repeated [ and excited command of one tall man j to "sit-down, sit-down," if anyone dared I to move, when that individual was found i sitting down as the lloyal carriage approached, and cries of "stand up, stand up!” resounded round him. Sitting near the writer were tho following New Zealanders: Mr and Mrs M. Myers and Maurice Myers, Mr A. Myers (Wellington);, tho Misses HallJoues (3); Mrs Kilgour; the Misses Rutherford (3) (Mendip Hills); Misses Lilian and Eosie Whitson (Dunedin); the Lev. Hoane I’arata (Dunedin); the llev. ltoi> inson and Mrs Eobinson (late of Dunedin); the Misses McKay (Dunedin); Judge and Mrs Jackson Palmer; Mr and Mrs Paul Hansen (Auckland); Professor and Mrs Coleridge Parr (Christchurch); Professor Bickerton (Christchurch); Madame Brooke (Christchurch); Miss Alexander (Wanganui); Mrs and Miss Harper (Otago); Mr and Miss Watson; Miss Ethel Batchelor and Miss I'orbes (Dunedin); Mr and Mrs L. Salmond (Dunedin); Mr and Mrs Barker (Gisborne); Miss Gladys Hocken (Dunedin); Miss Molly Neil (Dunedin); Mrs and Miss Kettle (Christchurch)