Sovereign

Arrayed as Admiral of the Fleet, the Sovereign last week held the first investiture of the new Edwardian reign at Buckingham Palace. Trooping gravely in came the distinguished Britons who figured in the last New Year's Honors List (TIME, Jan. 13), which beloved George V approved but did not live to sign. Of these the most famed is Feminist Christabel Pankhurst, who became at the hands of Edward VIII a sedately honored Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Pinned with 310 medals of the Royal Victorian Order were the 300 sailors who drew the gun carriage on which His late Majesty's remains were borne to the grave and their ten officers.

The Sovereign was also graciously pleased last week to make a precedent-shattering decision with respect to British stamps. Ever since the first British adhesive stamp was issued in 1840, the likeness of the Sovereign has been a head-&-neck. Experts of the Post Office have maintained that to show the Sovereign at waist-length or full-length on anything so small as a stamp would be to shrink the royal likeness until it was virtually unrecognizable, even in the case of a Sovereign with a distinctive beard.

Smooth-shaven, modest Edward VIII startled the Post Office last week with this double-barreled order: On stamps His Majesty is to appear at waist-length, and the British stamp size is not to be enlarged. Because the new King figured during the War primarily as an Army man, because he has never had an active Navy command like his father, and because in recent years he has taken special interest in the Royal Air Force, Post Office civil servants were further startled last week when the Sovereign commanded that on the new waist-length stamps he is to appear in naval uniform, bareheaded.

Snorting at this, quarterdeckers of the Royal Navy recalled last week the incident a few months ago on the Riviera when the aides-de-camp of Edward of Wales noticed at the last moment that he was about to inspect a British warship bareheaded. As this was contrary to Navy rules and tradition, they hastily pressed upon H. R. H. a shapeless white hat which he angrily refused to wear (TIME, Sept. 23).

Ever since Victoria's blameless Consort Albert introduced the knee-length frock coat or "Prince Albert," it has been required wearing at Buckingham Palace for officials in "close attendance" on the Sovereign. This week King Edward ordered worn instead the morning coat.

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