Hustling Along at 71

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 637, 13 April 1929, Page 19

Hustling Along at 71

HOLLAND’S QUEENMOTHER PAYS FLYING VISIT TO LONDON TO SEE EXHIBITION OF DUTCH ART.. . BN old lady with white hair arrived at Burling- - ton House recently at She wore an old-fash-ioned bonnet, with rib- ; bons tied under her chin, a skirt that 1 touched the ground, and she carried a large bag. Some people thought that this i homely woman was a country visitor i who had left some quiet English house to see the Dutch pictures before j the crowds beg"*" to arrive. The visitor was lueen Mother of he Netherlands, 1 ind her visit to Burlington House was part of one of the most amazing lightning tours ever undertaken by Royalty. At the age of 71, iM Queen Emma, a lover of art, decided that she must see the Dutch paintings. She left Holland on a Wednesday evening, reached Gravesend early in the morning, was at Burlington House by 9.30, and at Victoria Station again at 6.15 to take the special boat train back to Gravesend—-and Holland. When the Queen-Mother started her round of the exhibition each room in turn was shut off to afford a private view of the pictures. She did not, however, approve of this arrangement, which held up the public, who were present in great numbers. At her special request all the doors were thrown open, and Queen Emma j mingled unnoticed among all the men and women of all nationalities and the schoolboys and girls who thronged the rooms. All the officials of the exhibition knew that Queen Emma is deeply interested in the work of her great

countrymen, but no one supposed that she would spend four hours, with onlyone brief rest, in the galleries before lunch-time. “I am so glad to be here,’* she said to Major Longden, one of her escorts. “I wanted so much to see the paintings which have been lent by generous English owners to the exhibition, which otherwise I should never have seen.’* Queen Emma went round each gallery twice. At 1.30 she went to Brown's Hotel, where she frequently stayed in tbo da3 T s when she visited London, to take lunch with her tiny suite, and the Netherlands Minister. She was .persuaded to rest until 3.15, ! when she returned to Burlington I House. Queen Emma spent so long in the | galleries in the afternoon that she i had only just time to take tea with ! the Minister of the Netherlands at the Legation before she ended her i crowded day in London at Victoria soon after 6 o'clock. Queen Mary sent the Queen Motner a telegram on her arrival in London.