The Chapel Hill weekly., 1957-11-01

SOmeneSS tndl We never Deen .
able to admire) seemed almost
listless during some of the meal. /
However, | suppose that can be
ascribed partially to the fact
that he must never Outshlne Her
Majesty.
won't attempt the traditional
masculine imposslbility Of de
scribing her gown, but she was
certainly not, to use Mr.. Mug
geridge's term, "dowdy trump. "
But the mostly white dress with
the blue band of the Order of the
Garter, and the diamond and EN-
erald jewelry and the diamond
tiara were worn with a grace and
dignity that suppose only a
queen could quite manage The
spectacular simplicity (simplicity
worth a fortune, granted) should
have put to shame some of the
elaborately oyerdressed and over
jeweed women on the floor, if
they had sensitivity to realize it.
BY the end OF the dinner, most
Of my work was done and | had
time to enjoy most Of the rest
Of the proceedings. Enjoy is hard
ly the word / suppose l'm not
as jaded and world-wise as | had
thought Il had prided myself on
being amused by most Of the
hurrah over the royalty before
last night, for the toast to the
Queen was moment that | will
never forget The toast was de
livered with the guests standing,
Of course, then as the crowd stood
silent and almost completely mo
tlOnless, with their glasses raised,
the orchestra struck up God
Save the Queen" At the end of
the anthem, there was moment
Of silence, at the end Of which
the glasses were raised at arms
length 10 the shout Of "To the
Queen" In the box next to ours,
occupied by four Englishmen and
their wives | saw one man crying
quite unashamedly, and felt quite
like joining him for a moment.
1t may be all "pompous nonsense"
AS some Of her critics would have
/ it, but If 50, it's the most NOV
ing nonsense in the world.
The Queen was introduced by
ex- x-AmbassadOr Douglas (who had
to stop at one point for a mo
ment, obviously because Of emo
tom and Hugh Bullock. She
made a short, very simple and
obviously sincere address about
the common ties" Of the English
speaking peoples, during which
for the first time her weariness
became apparent in the slight
strain in her voice, which if
anything only gave weight to
her sincerity. And finally the
pipers strutted through again,
this time playing Retreat" to
lead the glittering group out.
Actually, the aftermath was
fairly hilarious. Many Of the
English guests at the dinner
were also attending the ball to
be held in the Armory immed-
lately afterward. Since it would
take the Queen only minutes to
freshen up and for her motorcade
to arrive at the Armory, there
was an hysterical scramble on
the part Of the ladies as soon
as the Queens back was turned,
TO get TO the lounges in the Wal
dorf, get themselves Strengthened
out and get TO the Armory in
time not to miss second of the
Queens arrival there. I've never
seen so many flying skirts and
frantic faces as they raced each
other 10 the nearest facilities.
I'm afraid the ones who tried to
maintain their dignity were very,
very late. But | was in such
daze at this time that this only
added to the enchantment.
watched that portion of the
ball that was carried on teleyision
when ! got home. Here the Queen
seemed more relaxed than she