WHITSUN HOLIDAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26773, 17 May 1948, Page 5

WHITSUN HOLIDAY

PRINCESS IN PARIS ENTHUSIASTIC WELCOME i. PRESIDENT’S INVITATION ACCEPTED N.Z.P.A.—Reuter—Copyright Rec. 8 p.m. PARIS, May 14. Thousands of French people gathered at the Gare du Nord in Paris this morning and greeted Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh, who are paying a Whitsun week-end visit to Paris at the invitation of the President, M. Vincent Auriol. The royal couple, amid bursts of excited cheering, walked to their black Diamler car over a red carpet flanked with pots of green plants on either side. The Princess and the Duke smiled happily and waved to the crowds. The Princess wore a grey coat, a grey felt hat, grey shoes, and carried a grey bag. N The Duke was in naval uniform. The French Foreign Minister, M. Georges Bidault, the French Ambassador to London, M. Rene Massigli, the Canadian Ambassador, M. Georges Vanier, and the British Ambassador, / Sir Oliver Harvey, welcomed the couple. As they entered the Daimler the crowd shouted: “ Vive Elizabeth." The Princess and the Duke drove to the British Embassy through streets decorated with French and British flags. Shop windows displayed large pictures of the couple, and people along the street cheered and waved small Union Jacks. Police, in the uniform of the Legion of Honour, patrolled the route, and a motor cycle escort accompanied their car. Plain clothes men mingled with the crowd. Princess Elizabeth found a bouquet of flowers from the President, M. Auriol, and a bottle of scent from Madame Auriol when she arrived at the room reserved for the couple at the British Embassy. They met British Commonwealth Embassy and Legation representatives in the embassy garden. The crowd gave Princess Elizabeth and the Duke rousing cheers on the drive from the embassy to the Eiysee Palace, where at midday they called on President Auriol. One hundred Republican Guards lined the courtyard at the palace,, where French, British and dominion diplomats awaited their arrival. Inside the palace M. Auriol presented the Princess, with her first foreign award—the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour. He said: “The French people are happy to seal by this presentation the union between our two peoples. I should give you the accolade, but I delegate my powers to your gracious spouse.’’ (The .accolade in the French ceremonial is a kiss on both cheeks for the recipient.) Then Johannes Duprez, Secretary for the Navy, read the order of the day, giving the citation for the award to the Duke of Edinburgh of the Croix de Guerre, with the palm. The citation read:

"The Duke of Edinburgh fougnt throughout the Second World War in the ships of the Royal Navy. In particular he displayed the finest qualities of command, of a naval sense, and lucid courage in the cruiser Valiant al the Battle of Matapan, and as second in command in H.M.S. Wallace in the >! North Sea. Imbued with the noblest traditions of the Royal Navy, he magnificently served in the cause of the Allies.”

The couple then left to place a wreath on the Unknown Soldier’s tomb. Princess Elizabeth was wearing the red shoulder sash and the cross of the order when she left. After laying the wreath, Princess Elizabeth signed a golden book containing the signatures of prominent visitors. The couple shook hands with many dignitaries.

Tears streamed down the Princess’s face as she waved to the wildly cheering Parisians lining the Champs Elysee during the drive back to the British Embassy from the Arc de Triomph. The couple lunched at the Embassy. , After lunch the Princess opened the exhibition; “Eight Centuries of British Life in Paris.” Speaking in French, the Princess appealed for the “ breakdown of prejudices born of narrow-minded nationalism,” in order to save the world from destruction.' The lesson of history of the French and English peoples was one of the clearest which could be offered to a world so tragically confused. Even in the days when France and England were at war men of letters continued to exchange ideas, as the exhibition showed. The exhibition fitted also into the framework of the cultural convention signed recently, which, in spite of the difficulties of this age, would provide increased facilities for intellectual and artistic exchanges between France and Britain.

Princess Elizabeth said that the time had come when all who wished to preserve the values for which the French and English had fought two wars must look well beyond their frontiers. No country was morally self-sufficient any more than it was economically seifsupporting: therefore it must be ready to throw into the common pool gifts and virtues which were our most treasured heritage. In this France and Britain had a duty to take the lead, for they were rich indeed when wealth was measured in ideas, wisdom, and experience.

•Raihvaymen named the engine which pulled the royal train to Paris “ Zezette,” an affectionate, humorous diminutive of Elizabeth. > The name appeared in white letters on a small black plate discreetly and unofficially on the flank of the locomotive. A pilot engine ran ahead of the royal train from Dunkirk to Paris. Police guards stood every half mile along the track, and flying squads of reinforcements were on call.

Police and railway workers at Dunkirk Maritime Station, where the royal railway coach was brought off the ferry, went about their work quickly and quietly. “Let the Princess sleep,” said the railwaymen. Railway workers brought bunches of fresh spring flowers to the train, and asked the attendants to present them to the Princess on her arrival in Paris.

The royal couple were given a rousing send-off from London. Crowds jammed the roadway outside the Victoria Station, and cheered them on arrival to join the frain ferry for Paris. A strong guard of metropolitan and railway police watched the entrance, and checked the tickets and identity cards of everyone passing the l-ailed-off- area. The Princess and the Duke went by naval cutter up the Seine to lie Saint Louis to be received by the Paris Municipal Council, to which French poets sent verses paying tribute to the Princess’s charm. Thousands crowded the two-mile stretch of quays along the river banks and many bridges. The voyage was two miles of cheering enthusiasm. The slight rain which had been falling stopped as the royal party arrived. The president of the Municipal Council, M. Pierre de Gaulle, received the Princess and the Duke. Princess Elizabeth received a number of gifts in Paris. The Special Security Service at the British Embassy X-rayed all before delivery tc the Princess.