THE QUEEN’S SKIRT

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19641, 8 November 1933, Page 10

THE QUEEN’S SKIRT

A SURPRISE FOR EVERYBODY. Five thousand women went to a garden party at Buckingham Palace recently in long, tight, flowing dresses. Crowds pressed round every gate J o watch these tube-shaped creatures :n frilly, foaming, ankle-length frocks step out of their motor cars, show their cards, and swish away out of sight into the King’s gardens. And what did they find there? The Queen appeared among them, and in one sensational moment it was seen that her skirt ended seven inches above the ground. It was comparatively short. Her dress was of pale gold, and she wore a necklace of crystals. She fanned herself with a mother-of-pearl fan under her parasol, and—yes!— her shoes were clearly seen. Every other woman in that kaleidoscopic circle was wearing a dress that touched the ground. So every other woman lifted her skirt just a little. Every debutante looked down at her toe-points, hitched up her frills, and showed her ankles, tea. But that was not all. Barely had the women adjusted themselves to the skirt length dictated by the Queen, when Lady Louis Mountbatten, in a black and white print, arrived in the royal circle, accompanied by Prince George and the Duke of Gloucester, with a skirt ending just below her knees. At that the matrons gave up competition. and let their skirts fall again. The debutantes followed suit.