The Washington times., 1923-03-09
ENGLISH ACCEPT
KING CALMLY
IN PUBLIC
Great Crowds Appear When
Royalty Rides Abroad, But
Take Pomp Casually.
BY LUTHER A. HUSTON,
international News Service.

LONDON, March 9.-The next
time you drift down Main street to
| the Bijou. Dream Theater and there
| flashes across the silver screen
| few thousand feet of film portray
| ing a king riding in triumphant
pomp and ceremony while his loyal
| lieges dance and shout and strew
his pathway with flowers, you just
turn to your "sweetie" and say:
THAT there picture never was
| taken in London. They don't make
that much fuss about king over
| there"
And you will be as right as a
| Western Union clock. They posi-
| lively do not make that much fuss
over q king in London, whether 1t
be their own king or somebody
else,s.
Pomp There in GObs.
The pomp and ceremony Is there
in gobs when the King and Queen
of England ride forth on state oc-1
casions. Royalty throws a show
that is worth looking at. There is
enough gold and glitter and feath-
ers and fuss about a state process
| sion to make a drum-major in the
| worlds greatest circus tear his
| hair in baff1ed, envious rage.
But the tumult and the shout
ing" that is supposed to emanate
| from the populace just naturally
does not enanate. jack Dempsey
riding up Broadway can get more
tumult out of one block of Broad
way crowd than King George and
Queen Mary can raise in process
sion that travels nearly q mile.
l 6n hn1 wmyS&rN :
the King and Queen of England
travelling in gorgeous state from
!, Buckingham Palace to Wsstmin-
ster, where they formally opened
Parliament. Purely as a spectacle
the procession leaves nothing to be
desired. It is just about the last
word in Splendor. For those who
love magnificent pageantry it is a
thrilling spectacle.
| But these royal professions fall
long way short of being great
1 dramas of human emotions. There
is about as much enthusiasm mani
tested as could be drummed up at
q mid-week game between the
Philadelphia Athletics and the Bos-
ton Red Sox.
100000 View Show.
The English turn out in fairly
large numbers to see their King
and Queen go by. At the last open
ing Of Parliament there were be-
tween $4,000 and 100000 people
massed along the route of the pro-
cession. There were bands, gayly
caparisoned soldiers, shoals and
shoals Of policemen and a fair
| spr mixing of lords and ladies Of
high degree riding in their car
riages and, motors. Some of the
watchers had been waiting two or
three hours for the royal pageant
to appear.
Yet when the King and Queen,
riding in their glittering gold coach
/ OF state, drawn by eight prancing
and gaudily bedecked horses, hove
in sight there is only one word
that can describe the resulting
demonstration" That word is
feeble.
AS the regal equipage passed the
commoners, fnassed along the line
of march behind the walled-in ranks
OF soldiers, let off few innocuous
cheers. The men raised their hats.
and the women waved their hand
kerchiefs. The cheering was all
| perfectly decorous and respectful
There was nothing ribald about the
| proceedings. But as q spontaneous
| outburst OF popular acclaim, as a
wild. tumultuous greeting to a pair
of beloved sovereigns-well, It was
not that by any means.
| Royal Ones Little Stiff.
It might also be said that the re-
spouse from their majesties to the
welcome of the populace was hard
ly calculated to provoke enthusiasm.
Queen Mary, who seemed to more
or less dominate and, permeate the
interior Of the regal carriage, bow.
ed stiffly and without the leaven of
a gracious smile to her assembled
subjects. King George, although
with a slightly kindlier light in his
eyes, quite evidently took his cue
from his consort, and his response
to such cheering az was proffered
was dignified, but eminently re-
strained.
The English people tell the visit
/ ing or the resident American that
they love their King and Queen and
that King George and Queen Mary
are popular. That may be true, and
perhaps a tumult of affectionate re-
gard surged in the breasts of the
assembled Britishers. The surging,
however, was by no means a tidal
wave of emotion, for it did not even
seep through the wall of stolidity be-
hind which the watchers so success
fully concealed whatever feelings the
spectacle aroused within them.
Perhaps it was the weather-for
it was a cold, dismal day-and per-
haps it was because such process
sions have come to be "oId stuff" to
the English. Probably the best in
dication of how the average British
er-the man in the street-feels
about these royal shows is afforded
by the comment Of short, red
faced, rather ragged Cockney, as the
regal procession trooped back toward
Buckingham Palace after the pa
geant had ended:
well. there e goes back 'ome,"
this Cockney remarked. "'E's done
is days work, an now I'll go back
an do mine."