ROYAL WEDDING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22432, 29 November 1934, Page 9

ROYAL WEDDING

HUGE COLLECTION OF GIFTS DISPLAYED IN THREE ROOMS (United Press Association.) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) LONDON, November 27. No Australian or New Zealand presents are noticed among the huge collection of wedding gifts occupying three rooms at St. James's Palace. Mr R. B. Bennett and the Canadian Cabinet, however, presented the pair with finely wrought loving cups. Perhaps the most interesting feature is the number of authors who have'presented their own books, mostly richiy Bound, but in some cases ordinary clothbound editions. The quantity of rubies among the jewels shows Princess Marina's preference for these stones. For instance, the Duke of Kent has given her a gorgeous necklet of rubies and diamonds. Their Majesties have also given six silver candelabra among a collection of other silver dishes and ornaments. The Prince of Wales, the Duke and Duchess of York, Lord Harewood and the Princess Royal, and the Duke of Gloucester combined to give a selection of Adam mahogany sidepieces. Cabinet members, foreign royalties, including Princess Marina's family, numerous Indian Princes, and others have given lavish presents, but it is impressive, however, to n6te the large number of smaller presents which might have appeared on the list of any middle-class couple, and the number of gifts testifying the extent and variety of the Duke of Kent's and Princess Marina's circles of acquaintances.

QUEEN'S GOWN FOR WEDDING

LONDON, November 27.

The Duke of Kent and Princess Marina stayed for an- hour at the servants' party, at which there were 2000 persons present, mixing freely with the guests and shaking hands with old servants. The Duke introduced several, whom he had known since babyhood, to Princess Marina. One said later: "The Princess won all hearts. She was all • smiles, and seemed perfectly delighted with us." Their Majesties, the Duke of Kent, the Prince of Wales, and the Duke of York will ride to the Abbey in glass coaches. While returning* to Buckingham palace the bridal pair will drive in a glass coach drawn by greya. The Queen's .gown for the wedding will be of pastel blue and Australian gold brocaded velvet, worn with classical floral effect, designed in the princess style, with a gracefully sculptured ekirt revealing an underdress of supple cloth of gold. She will also wear a capelet of similar brocaded velvet, lined with a pale gold collar of Russian sables. The turban toque will be of gold velvet, with the mount in pastel blue and South African ostrich feathers. The Queen will wear the blue ribbon of the Garter. Her jewels will be diamonds.

REHEARSAL OF CEREMONIES (British Official Wireless i <■. RUGBY, November 27. To-day hundreds of workmen were engaged in finishing the public stands, planning the pylons along the - route, and decorating all these with bunting, in which the British colours blend with the blue and white of Princess Marina. To-night London will be filled with voices, as an elaborate, broadcast apparatus is being tested. .»"...,! The Royal wedding presents were on view at St. James's Palace to-day. They make a magnificent display. For weeks past they have been coming from all parts of the world, and now number nearly 1000. They, include some superb jewels. Part of the King's present is a necklace of 36 graduated diamonds, while one present from the Queen is a tiara and necklace of sapphires and diamonds. The Duke's present to the Princess includes a ruby and diamond necklace with earrings, a pearl necklace, and.a diamond and ruby tiara. ;J -A MAGNIFICENT- SCENE LONDON, November 28. (Received Nov. 28, at 8.30 p.m.) A woman guest at the Buckingham Palace party says it was a magnificent scene, the like of which had not been seen in London since before the war. Those who witnessed it would never forget it. THE 8.8. C. BROADCAST (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, November 27. (Received Nov. 28, at 5.5 p.m.) The B'.B.'CV Empire transmissions in connection with the royal wedding eeremonv will take place between 10.45 and" 11.45 G.M.T. on November 29. G.S.E. and G.S.C. recording will be broadcast during normal transmissions at 3 p.m., 0.15 p.m., and 11 p.m. on thp 29th; and at 8.15 a.m. on the 30th. GREEKS OF NEW ZEALAND CONGRATULATIONS TO PRINCESS MARINA. (Per United Press Association) WELLINGTON, November 28. Mr Frank Dyer, consul for Greece in New Zealand,' has despatched a cable message to Princess Marina, a translation of which is as follows: x "The Greeks of New Zealand heartily congratulate you upon your happy marriage. We wish your life to be happy and your future bright and cloudless." PRINCE GEORGE'S CAREER Prince George Edward Alexander Edmund was born on December 20, 1902. The King wished his son to carry on the family tradition of a " Sailor Prince," and Prince George entered the Royal Naval Training" College at Dartmouth a few months before his fourteenth birthday in 191 G. He passed out a? a midshipman in 1921, and then spent eight years as a serving officer, seeing service with the Mediterranean Fleet, the Atlantic Fleet, the China Squadron, and on the American and West Indies Station.

-111-health compelled the Prince, much against his own wish, to relinquish a naval career, and on March 19, 1929, his retirement from active participation in the work of the navy was announced in an official communication issued from Buckingham Palace. At the same time it was announced that the Kin?, with the concurrence of the Prime Minister, had decided that the Prince should be attached to the Foreign Office in order to gain knowledge of the administration and work of a department of State. Thus Prince George became the first civil servant in the Royal Family. On April 3, 1929, Prince George took np his new duties at the Foreign Office a* a third secretary in the Western Department. His duties were undertaken, it was understood, with a view to fitting him for the position ot Gover-nor-General of one of the Dominions,

and tho intention was that he should afterwards gain experience in other Government departments. 111-health, however, interfered again with the Prince's plans, and in July, 1929, he was given indefinite leave of absence from the Foreign Oflice. Like his three brothers, Prince George is a Mason. He was initiated into the Navy Lodge on April 12, 1928, and became a Master Mason in the following June. After visiting Norway in December, 1930, to represent the King and Queen at the celebrations of the twenty-fifth anniversary of King Haakon's accession to the throne, Prince George set out on his greatest adventure, the 18,000 miles tour of South America with the Prince of Wales, where he was present at the opening of the Buenos Aires Exhibition. Returning from this journey, Prince George expressed a wish to see something of the working conditions of those engaged in British industry. There followed a series of tours in which he obtained first-hand information on many of the country's vital industries. During the last three years Prince George has taken an ever-increasing share of the duties which fall to members of the Royal Family. His work on behalf of the hospitals has been unceasing and he accepted the presidency of St. George's Hospital. This has not meant any relaxation of his interest in the national industries. Last year he visited the Black Country and the industrial centres of Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire. At the beginning of this year he left for South Africa on a three months' tour, on the invitation of the Government of the Union. He made the) voyage on the Carnarvon Castle, and at Capetown, where he was received by the Governor-General, the Earl of Clarendon, he had an enthusiastic welcome. He was away from home three n ths and a-half, returning on April 24. In that time he travelled 21,000 miles, including 10,000 miles by road and rail through South Africa, Rhodesia, Belgian Congo and the Portuguese terri-

tory at Lobito Bay. The, Portuguese sent war vessels to salute him on his departure. Prince George was welcomed with the greatest enthusiasm throughout the trip, an outstanding feature being the acclamations of the native tribes, which conferred on him such titles as " Mighty Elephant ? ' and " Thou Quaking World." The rigours of the tour proved that the Prince had overcome his earlier physical weakness, and could now boast much more than the average health and fitness. At Capetown he climbed Table Mountain, and many of his engagements at other places were no less strenuous. The order of succession to the English Throne is: The Prince of Wales and his issue; The Duke of York, Princess Elizabeth ind Princess Margaret; the Duke of Gloucester and his issue; Prince George and his issue; and Princess Mary and her issue. ! TWO WEDDING SERVICES \ Princess Marina, like all the members of her family, is a member of the Greek Orthodox Church. Since' there is no question of her being required to change her religious allegiance, the two ceremonies have been arranged. A similar position arose at the time of the marriage of the Duke of Edinburgh to the Grand Duchesse Marie Alexandrovna, who was also of the Orthodox faith. The precedent of the Duke's marriage will Be observed, and the wedding ..of Prince George and Princess Marina according to the English rite will be followed by the elaborate ceremonies of the Bethrothal and Marriage of the Greek Orthodox Church. The Duke of Edinburgh was married at St. Petersburg on January 23, 1873. There were two ceremonies of equal splendour in the attendance of royal guests and the brilliant assembly. At both, the music was sung by the Imperial Russian Choir. The first service, in the Chapel of the Winter Palace, was in a"cordance witli the Orthodox rite, and the second, at which Dean Stanley, of Westminster, officiated, in the magnificent Alexandra Hall of the palace, was according to the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. Sentiment might have ordained that the Greek marriage should be in the Cathedral of Saint Sophia in Bayswater, where members of the Princess's family worship when they are in London, and where the Metropolitan Germanos has his throne. Such a procedure would, however, by no means be required by the circumstances, owing to the close relationship ot the two ehurelic . Westminster Abbey, for instance, has already been the scene of Orthodox ceremonial, when the (Ecumenical Patriarch joined with other high Eastern aim Anglican dignitaries in a joint service in commemoration of the KiOOth anniversary of the formulation of the Xieene Creed 111 325. , It would not. indeed, be liturgically impossible for the essential features of the two rites to be incorporated in one ceremony. There is, however, no precedent for such a course, and its adoption was unlikelv.