Evening star., 1939-05-20
Howjedo,' Says King
And Shakes Hands
With Reporters
Their Mojesties Hold
Informal Reception
For Working Press
BY IRA WOLFERT.


what it is like to be received by
King George VI and Queen Eliza
beth, then read on.
An eyewitness, inside story this
time, of an experience which thou
sands of Canadians are struggling
to suffer through right now and
thousands of Americans are battling
to anticipate. The point seems to
be that such reception makes you
very high society indeed, meaning
proper material to stuff an expen-
sive shirt. Anyway, this guy right
here is high society from now on,
SO high he will have to take an
airplane to put on his hat.
What's becoming high society
overnight like? Since Wednesday,
we've all been staring at it from the
outside, at 300 miles of a frazzled
array of curtsies and bows. The
women generally we're white-faced
and desperate, their hands trem-
bling so that their jewels clattered
and the men were red-faced and
walked high like those who do not
know quite where the ground is, or
perhaps like men who are dying or
maybe going to the dentist.
Nobody Ever Quite Sure.
They dipped or bobbed in man
ner comparable with their gender
and the age of their bones, and
their majesties said, How do you
do?" And it was over. Although
all the rules had been published
frequently, nobody ever was quite
sure OF the proper technique of get
ting away from there. The few who
knew the right of the business
backed away gingerly and generally
found themselves backing into
something.
The engraved summons to the
favored land was curiously worded.
AT the top was a gold crown, under
1t was a gold monogram, &c. R. E"
Then came the stuff:
The Governor General has re-
celved their majesties' commands to
invite name lnSerted) to a recep-
ton at Government House on" then
the date and time, and in smaller
script at the lower left-hand corner,
The reply should be addressed to
the controller of the household"
The reply was, It's okay if you
don't have to wear nothinG2 You
don't have to wear nothing'%it was
said, and before long the family
hat was resting on a table in a
marble foyer. 1t looked very sad
there among pile of fresh-buffed
toppers and a very grand busby.
"Oh, My Goodness, No"
Then up short flight of stairs
and into large room. There were
about 100 newSpapermen and wom-
en- and we were told to form a semi
circle and wait Informal this was
to be, and nobody knew exactly how
to go about being informal with a
King and Queen. An English Jour-
nallst said with great heat, oh. my
goodness, no" to various American
suggestions, and the girls fluttered
into huddle over the curtsy prob
lem. Ultimately they decided to do
what seemed suitable to each sepa-
rately.
Then we were told to stand along
the walls, and the King and Queen
shipped quietly into the room and
began working down the line. This
was not the royalty that can be
seen daily on parade all this month
and most of next. Rather, this was
the man whose wife calls him
"Bertie" and this was the woman
who is mother and hostess.
She was dressed in pale blue
lace dress and wore oyster white
pumps and a few Jewels, chiefly
pearl necklace of two strands. He
was dressed in black short coat
and striped pants, what the English
tailors call an Office suit and TIE
English people call "a black jacket
and tramWay trousers"
They listened to the names as
sounded off and said "Howiedo
and shook hands, Queen Elizabeth
first, King George next, and some
times they added a word or two. We
had all been told to say nothing ex-
cept in reply to question.
Not Very Sparkling.
The words uttered were very care
full, very sound and therefore, of
course, not very sparkling. They
were chosen on the spur of the mo-
ment, but with great care, as when
man mentioned he mad worked in
Vienna in the old days" The King
looked startled suddenly Vienna
he said. "Oh! Vienna And when
an American blurted out to the
King, Il don't see how you stand it."
the King and Queen laughed de-
lightedly, but said nothing.
Are you going all the way with
us?' DO you find it difficult to
sleep on the train?" How do YOU
find time to get any rest between
your work?' These were the oues-
tions asked, and the answers were
not very informative The answers
were docile and on the pleasant side.
And the comments made by their
majeSties, to New Zealander from
Wellington: "Ah, that's the Windy
City To news service man. cov-
erlng for newspapers all around the
world who had said he would need
six clocks to keep the various times
straight, And they'll all be wrong.
too"
On the way out, their majesties'
subjects were puffed enormously.
Their eyes and cheeks shone They
were reverentially silent. This re-
81,