The Crown

Thirty-six years ago the Duchess of York, five years married and four years a mother, went down to Blackwall on the Thames below London docks to launch the 12,500-ton battleship Albion. Plunging into the water the great mass of steel piled up such a backwave that it swamped a landing stage on which 200 men, women and children were crowded. Nearly all of them were flung into the Thames. Fifty were drowned.

Last week the same lady, now Queen-Empress of Britain, went to John Brown's dockyards on the Clyde for another launching. On the ways rested what will eventually be the biggest ship ever built in Britain, a 34,000-ton half-finished hull known until last week only as No. 534. (TIME, Oct. 1). Standing in puddles in the pouring rain, a vast crowd saw Queen Mary press a button that started the hull down the ways. At the same moment Her Majesty smashed a bottle of Australian Burgundy against No. 534 and cried: "I am happy to name this ship the Queen Mary, and wish good luck to her and all who sail in her."

Many oldsters, water dripping from their hat brims, held their breaths, for technically the job of sliding the gigantic Queen Mary into the narrow Clyde was ten times as difficult as the launching of the Albion. But there were no accidents. It was all over in 75 seconds.

P: The launching of the Queen Mary broke up one of the gayest holidays that Britain's royal family has spent in many a year.

At comfortable Balmoral Castle in Scotland King George and Queen Mary had with them their youngest child, Prince-George, and his fiancee, the lovely Princess Marina. There, too, were her father and mother, Prince Nicholas and Princess Helen of Greece, for whom the King-Emporer has developed a great affection.

It was all very jolly. When they were all assembled, photographers who had been waiting around the castle gate begged for a family picture.

"Come on," cried the young folk, "let's pose arm-in-arm!"

The King-Emperor and Queen-Empress recoiled, but, after all, it turned out to be quite an occasion. P: At Balmoral was held the Gillies' Ball, for the 270 footmen, housemaids, gamekeepers, beaters and guides of the estate. With seven pipers skirling "Hielan' Ladie," the royal party entered the great hall. Over her jeweled gown Queen Mary wore a taffeta shoulder sash of Royal Stuart tartan. In the musicians' gallery was King George's favorite dance orchestra, Mrs. Annie Shand's Band from Aberdeen, which has played at every servants' ball at Balmoral since the War. Mrs. Annie Shand and her band gallantly tackled the Greek national anthem for the royal foreigners. While King George and the Archbishop of Canterbury sat looking on, royalty and servants danced the Paul Jones. There were also the Spanish gavotte and the flirtation polka, but the feature of the evening was a Highland reel by Princess Marina after only two days' coaching in Queen Mary's private parlor.

P: The Primate of all England was not at Balmoral just to watch the dancing. After a long series of family conferences the Archbishop of Canterbury announced plans for the royal wedding. Place: Westminster Abbey. Date: Nov. 29. A short Greek Orthodox ceremony will follow in Buckingham Palace. Both the Archbishops of Canterbury and York are expected to perform the service, and there will be three state processions for excited Londoners to watch. King George and Queen Mary will drive from Buckingham Palace to the Abbey. Prince George and his Best Man Edward of Wales will go in a separate parade from St. James's. The bride, Prince Nicholas and Princess Helen will head a third.

P: To an Edinburgh pastry shop went the order for the royal wedding cake. That, too, will be a weighty affair: 9 ft. high, 800 Ib. Spiced with British nuts and Empire raisins, it will take six weeks to make, will be shipped to London in sections to be reassembled, erected and iced in Buckingham Palace. Somewhere in that 800 Ib. of fruitcake the Scottish bakers will hide a sixpenny bit.

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