Dawn of the Elizabethan age
After Coronation of dazzling splendour, Queen salutes crowds from Palace SIX times
THE QUEEN, cheered at times by 150,000 people, walked out on to the famous balcony at Buckingham Palace six times last night.
Just as Sir Walter Raleigh laid his cloak beneath the feet of the first Elizabeth, so London lay a carpet at the feet of Elizabeth the Second — a living carpet, with a pattern made of upturned faces from every part of the world.
Rain- soaked clothes, long hours of waiting in the worst weather for pageantry — nothing could dampen the spirits of this singing, dancing, cheering multitude, flinging balloons, paper streamers and hats into the air. Not even warnings from the police — ‘Stop crowding The Mall stands; if any more cram in they may collapse’ — could stop the rejoicing.
The great crowd began calling for the Queen as soon as she returned from the Abbey. For 40 minutes their shouts penetrated through to the Palace. At 5.42pm, the windows leading on to the Palace balcony were opened — and Prince Charles, wearing a Coronation medal, and Princess Anne darted out first waving excitedly to the crowd.
Then out came the Queen — the Imperial State Crown still on her head: the golden bracelets of ‘ Sincerity and Wisdom’ still on her arms; her deep purple robe of State trailing behind her.
The Duke of Edinburgh followed. Then the Queen Mother, Princess Margaret and the rest of the Royal Family.
Suddenly, from the east came the whine of jets. The whole balcony looked up. The RAF began to fly past.
Five more minutes of waving followed, then the Royal Family left the gold and crimson draped balcony. That five minutes was not enough for the multitude. Again the cries went up: ‘We want the Queen!’
So at 7.21pm she appeared again on the balcony, this time with the Duke of Edinburgh only. She still wore her glittering Crown. And as she waved at the people beneath there was another tremendous roar of welcome.
At 9pm the Queen spoke to the nation and the Empire in a radio broadcast from her study at the Palace. Her speech was relayed to the crowds outside.
There was a new surge towards the gates, where loudspeakers were fixed.
But for the first time during the whole exciting day every- body in the enormous crowd remained silent.
That silence did not last for long, however. For at 9.45pm the Queen was out on the balcony for the third time, radiant as ever, dressed now in a white gown, ermine wrap and a tiara. She pressed the switch to turn the Mall into a sparkling highway of fairy-tale arches.
After six minutes the Queen and Prince Philip went back into the Palace. But the crowd wanted more. A group of soldiers could be heard singing an old Scottish ballad: We’re no awa’tae bide away, We’ll aye come back tae see ye.
So at 10.40pm the balcony windows opened and the Queen stepped out with the Duke. At 11.30pm they appeared again — and at midnight the crowds saw them once more.
This sixth appearance sent the crowd wild. Every hand waved. Every voice shouted. Then the singing of God Save The Queen spread through the crowd. It was still going as the Queen and the Duke went back into the Palace — he with a last wave.
At 12.10 the balcony floodlights went out. A few seconds later the whole Palace floodlighting dimmed and the crowds began to thin away.
It was all over. As we sloshed homeward in our thousands through the running West End gutters, I met Raymond C. Appleyard, of New York, who beat me about the shoulders till they squelched.
‘I wish to state,’ he boomed, ‘that the British are the greatest people in the world. After Everest, now this. When I saw all those folk lining up at 6 o’clock last night I said: “They’re nuts. Fancy doing that just for a parade.” Today I saw the parade. No fooling, there is nothing on Earth to touch it.’