LONDON AS HOST

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26623, 20 November 1947, Page 7

LONDON AS HOST

Many Notabilities Present . SURPRISE INVITATIONS TO RECEPTIONS \ N.Z.F.A. Special Correspondent * Rec. 9 p.m. LONDON, Nov. 19. London to-day is host, not only to the largest gathering of visiting royalties and notabilities since the coronation, but also to hundreds of more humble folk who have received personal invitations either to attend the royal wedding or one of the preliminary receptions.

Princess Elizabeth has sent invitations to all those who gave her wedding presents and among them were hundreds of people completely unknown to the Royal Family. Because of the limited accommodation, invitations to the actual wedding ceremony in the Abbey have been restricted largely to official guests and friends of the bride and groom, but many people who sent the royal couple gifts without any expectation of seeing either the wedding or the receptions have been astonished and delighted to receive invitations to the receptions held on Monday and to-day. Among them is a 16-year-old Canadian schoolgirl, Betty Wright, of Winnipeg, who saved up and sent the Princess a pair of , nylon'stockings as a wedding present. When she received an invitation to the wedding her fellow scholars and townspeople subscribed.money to enable her to go to London and to equip her for the journey. Two who received invitations but who will not be able to attend are a bedridden Dagenham woman, Mi’s Elsie Virgo, who sent the Princess a crocheted table set, and 81-year-old Mrs Emily Stevens, of Newport, who sent the Princess a similar present. Both are too ill to make the journey to 1 London, Among Lieutenant Mountbatten’s personal guests are Mr and Mrs James Black, who keep a hairdresser’s shop in Elgin, Morayshire, near Gordonstoun School. As a schoolboy at Gordonstoun, Lieutenant' Mountbatten frequently visited the Blacks and took tea in the parlour behind their shop. He has been in tquch with them ever since he left the school. The bridegroom has also remembered his headmaster at Gordonstoun, Mr Kurt Haan, who is flying back specially from a holiday in Germany to attend the wedding. Another of his personal guests is one of his skittle-playing opponents from Corsham.

Among the Princess’s many personal guests is her former governess, Miss Marion • Crawford, now Mrs George Buthlay, wife of an Aberdeen banker. There are sp many royalties staying in fashionable West End hotels that one at least has set a special table aside for their personal visitors’ books. There are four kings and five queens now staying in London for the wedding ceremony, and eight visiting princes and princesses, in addition to a large number *>f titled foreign visitors.

More than 1200 guests, including four Kings and four Queens and many other foreign royalty, attended a prewedding party given by the King and Queen at Buckingham Palace. Their Majesties received' the guests at the grand staircase leading to the state apartments. Mer> in evening dress and women in exquisite gowns mingled in the flower-filled ballroom, with background music from the Guards’ String Band. It was a glittering scene, with congratulations and good wishes coming from all sides to the Princess and her fiance. It was the biggest and most magnificent party since pre-war 'days. Members of Cabinet, Ambassadors and Foreign Ministers, Empire statesmen and famous personalities were among the guests. Big crowds outside the Palace braved the sleet and rain to \,atch the guests arriving. Princess Elizabeth spent the morning at Buckingham Palace receiving delegations with additional wedding gifts. Princess Elizabeth, accompanied by Lieutenant Mountbatten, showed her wedding presents to another 2500 people at a party at St. James’s Palace in the afternoon. The Princess is giving coupon-free dresses to 20 November brides. The brides- selected will be of the Princess’s own age (21) who are being married on November 19, 20 or 2). Reuter’s says the insurance already taken out on the presents for the wedding has reached £200,000. Lloyd’s underwriters bear the risk against fire and theft. j