The great carriage crisis
THe enormous Queen Salote of Tonga was one of the highlights of the day. Refusing to have her carriage closed despite the rain, she beamed and waved to the crowds. The tiny Sultan of Kelantan, who was sitting opposite, was described by Noel Coward as ‘her lunch’. Finding enough clarences – closed horse-drawn carriages – to ferry Commonwealth prime ministers to Westminster Abbey had posed a headache until aides borrowed five from the producer and director Sir Alexander Korda’s film studios.