Christening of Prince Charles

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26957, 17 December 1948, Page 5

Christening of Prince Charles

NZPA—Copyright Rec. 8 p.m. LONDON, Dec. 16. About 50 guests were at the ceremony when Prince Charles of Edinburgh was christened in the big music room on the fifth floor of Buckingham Palace yesterday afternoon by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Geoffrey Fisher.

Six of the eight sponsors attended—the King. Queen Mary. Princess Margaret, the Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven, Lady Brabourne, and the Hon. David Bowes-Lyon. The King of Norway and Prince George of Greece, the baby’s great-great-uncles, were not present, but were represented by the Earl of Athlone and the Duke of Edinburgh respectively. Among the guests were Princess Elizabeth's former governess, Mrs George Buthlay, and her husband, and the medical attendants who looked after Princess Elizabeth—Sir William Gilliatt, Sir John Weir Mr John Peel, and Dr Vernon Hall. The baby’s nurse, Sister Helen Rowe, was also present. Headed by the King in morning clothes and the Queen in a dress and hat of flame red, the members of the Royal Family entered the music room immediately before the ceremony began. Princess Elizabeth looked extremely well in a coat of almost the same shade of red as the Queen’s. The Princess wore an off-the-face hat of brown trimmed with flame-coloured silk.

The King walked in without showing any signs of leg trouble or any obvious signs of fll-health. He seemed in particularly good spirits. Sister Rowe brought in. the baby, who behaved beautifully throughout the half-hour ceremony. She handed the baby to Princess Margaret, who stood by a golden font, its plinth decorated in crimson velvet adorned with white flowers. The Princess announced the baby’s names in response to the Archbishop’s, question. She handed her nephew to him, and the Archbishop baptised' Prince Charles. In a short address, the Archbishop stressed the religious importance of the service and spoke of the duties undertaken by the sponsors in their vows. Duke Records Birth The Duke of Edinburgh had earlier registered the birth of his son, Prince Charles Philip Arthur George. Mr John Stanley Clare, registrar of births at Caxton Hall. Westminster, arrived at Buckingham Palace, taking his tattered dark red register and a pen loaded with special fadeless ink of the type which has been used since 1837

to record births in Westminster. Two officials of the Ministry of Food went to the Palace and handed to the Duke and Princess- Elizabeth the child’s green ration book.

Although Mr Clare took the special fadeless ink in his pen when he went to the Palace for the registration, the Duke of Edinburgh did not use it, but used his own pen by mistake. Mr Clare and the Duke stood talking some minutes before the signing, after which the Duke absentmindedly used his own pen. The First Photographs

After the christening, Prince Chanes had his first official press photograph taken, and made his first appearance before the cine cameras for the newsreels. , . The New York Times correspondent reporting on the Prince’s christening, says hardened press photographers pronounced that the prince was a model baby, healthy, blue-eyed, wispyhaired, and well-behaved. A 43-seater airliner with a crew of nine and a carrying capacity of 10 tons left London for New York last night with a lib package—the first pictures of Prince Charles. The aircraft was specially chartered to reach New York in time for the early editions of the New York evening newspapers Later messages state that all evening newspapers . in. New York gave prominence to radio photographs of the new Prince. The largest occupied half a broad-sheet page in Hearsts journal. American. Other pictures showed the King, the Duke of Edinburgh, Queen Mary, and Princess Margaret with the baby.