ADMIRING CROWDS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27093, 30 May 1949, Page 5

ADMIRING CROWDS

PRINCESS IN PARIS BIG FOUR MEETING THRUST INTO BACKGROUND NZP A—-Copyright Rec. 9 p.m. PARIS, May 23. Princess Margaret dodged the spectators, reporters and cameramen who jostled and elbowed the platform to the carriage door from which she was expected to alight when she arrived in Paris from Lausanne. Princess Margaret suddenly changed her mind, turned back along the corridor and left the train at the other end of the carriage. A small army of policemen formed a wedge from the platform to a small waiting room from which Princess Margaret passed to the back courtyard, where her car was waiting. A few people saw her arrive at the British Embassy, where she will stay. Princess Margaret’s arrival pushed the Big Four meeting into the background in the Paris evening papers. The Communist newspaper, Ce Soir, said: “Thousands of people, shop girls and suburban workers, tried to catch a glimpse of the Princess at the station but were held off by a pitiless police force.” The Princess was entertained at lunch by Madame Vincent Auriol, wife of the French President. The 30 guests included members of the French Government. The Princess met 100 guests from all Commonwealth Embassies and Legations in Paris and from the French Ministries at a cocktail party at the Canadian Embassy in the evening. The Swiss Government took no risks when Princess Margaret went for an hour’s cruise on Lake Geneva in a heavily-armoured Swiss Army launch on Friday. There were armed military guards and four plain-clothes detectives on board the launch, which was followed by another launch containing uniformed police and three swimming champions. The Princess had spent the night with Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain at a lakeside villa in Lausanne.

Swiss newspapers criticised the security measures which kept the Princess from the admiration of the press and public. The Tribune de Lausanne and the Gazette de Lausanne said that she looked sad. The Tribune said: “If you reflect that from Sierre to Veytaux she saw practically nothing of Switzerland but the profile of Andre Boissier (chief of the Swiss Protocol and the broad backs of our motor cycle police, you must admit she had no reason to be madly gay.” Princess Margaret accidentally met ex-King Michael of Rumania as she walked into a shop during a shopping tour of Lausanne ,-to-day. He shook her warmly by the hand and then escaped from the crowd of spectators into the department store. The Princess was accompanied by Queen Vicoria Eugenie of Spain.