Royal Travellers In North America

Southland Times, Issue 23816, 13 May 1939, Page 6

Royal Travellers In North America

THE Empress of Australia is now nearing Canada: in a few more hours her royal passengers will set foot on North American soil. This is the first time a reigning King and Queen of England have visited North America, although it is by no means the first visit by British royalty. Long before he became King, and while he was still a very youthful Prince of Wales, Edward VII went to Canada, toured with ’ enthusiasm, watched Blondin cross the Niagara Falls on a tight-rope, and passed on into the United States, where he became known as “Baron Renfrew”, and was so popular that the Duke of Newcastle suggested the danger of* his being “nominated for the Presidency, and elected by unanimous consent.” Another popular visitor was the Duke of Connaught, later to become Governor-Gen-eral of Canada. King George V also toured Canada as part of an Empire journey of 45,000 miles. He was then the Duke of Cornwall, and was accompanied by his wife, now Queen Mary. But the greatest of all royal travellers' was King Edward VIII, the present Duke of Windsor, whose few weeks in the United States after long Empire journeys made.him an immensely popular figure with the American people. King George VI also travelled widely as the Duke of York: his visit to New Zealand is still a Comparatively recent, memory, and before this he had already—accompanied by the Duchess of York—made a tour of Kenya Colony, Uganda and the Sudan. His Majesty is no stranger to Canada, which he visited on an Atlantic cruise before the Great War. Politics and Friendship

It is impossible to overlook the significance of the present visit to Canada and the United States. When Queen Victoria sent her eldest son across the Atlantic many years ago, the intention of the trip was obviously to remove the last traces of a coolness which had subsisted between Britain and the American people ever since the colonists detached themselves from British rule. It was a coolness which revived from time to time as British and American ways of living seemed to follow different directions, and there was even one occasion during Victoria’s reign when war between the two nations became a distinct possibility. More recently the English-speaking peoples have entered a new and important relationship. Modern methods of communication, and to a certain extent the undoubted influence of the cinema, have drawn Britain and the United States much i closer than seemed possible even a few years ago. Today the European situation has emphasized in a new way the values of a relationship which rests on the common bases of language, political freedom and democratic forms of government. Every new threat to international law and order drives the democracies deeper into a system of alliances founded on the hatred of injustice and oppression. There is no alliance between Britain and the United States; but under the tutelage of President Roosevelt American neutrality is moving towards an avowed support of British policy. The visit of the King and Queen can scarcely fail to exert a profound influence on the American people. In less troubled times it would be welcomed as a cordial gesture: today it will be recognized as a unifying event of the utmost importance. The good wishes and hopes of all British people will accompany these royal travellers on their journey through Canada and to the great democracy which lies below the Dominion’s undefended frontier.