Crown's Week

P:Under the mellow brick walls of St. James's Palace the blond, horsy young Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marshal of England, led a gaudy procession to a scarlet-draped balcony. The silver trumpets of the Horse Guards blew a fanfare, then up stepped Sir Gerald Woods Wollaston, Garter Principal King of Arms, looking like a very expensive Jack of Clubs in his stiff gold-embroidered tabard, and began to read from a long parchment scroll. All the world could hear him, for microphones were concealed in the balcony rail. The first sentence lasted twelve minutes without a period. Excerpts:

"By the King, a proclamation declaring His Majesty's pleasure and touching upon his royal coronation and the solemnity thereof;

"Whereas, we have resolved by favor of the blessing of Almighty God to celebrate in solemnity our royal coronation at Westminster upon Wednesday, the 12th day of May next;

"And forasmuch as by ancient customs and usages of this realm, as also in regard of divers tenures of sundry manors and lands . . . many of our loving subjects do claim that they are bound to do and perform divers services on said day and at the time of the coronation ... we therefore out of our princely care for the preservation of the lawful rights and inheritances . . . have appointed our most dear brother and counselor, His Royal Highness Prince Albert Frederick Arthur George, Duke of York ... to sit in the Council Chamber at Whitehall ... [so that all persons whom it may concern] may give their attendance for the exhibiting of their petitions and claims for performance. . . ."

May 27 was the date most favored by early guessers on the coronation. May 12 was finally decided upon because the leaves would not be too far out to obstruct rooftop views of the coronation procession. Privately King Edward told his most dear brother and counselor and the Duke of Norfolk, who is officially responsible for arranging the coronation, to do everything they possibly could to simplify the interminable ritual.

P:For the second time since his accession, Edward VIII flew last week, this time to pay a last minute visit to the Queen Mary before her maiden voyage (see col. 3). At the controls was his longtime personal pilot, unassuming Flight Lieutenant Edward H. Fielden. Queen Mary and other members of the royal family had come down by train, were already at the quay-side as King Edward's plane landed. For five hours the public was kept away as the royal family went over the ship from stem to stern, lunched together in private. Irrepressible Princess Elizabeth loudly demanded to be shown the children's nursery, screamed with excitement when she was allowed to push a button that sent the hoarse boom of the Queen Mary's whistle echoing across Southampton Water.

P:The French Government announced last week that Edward VIII will make his first official visit to foreign soil on July 26 when he goes to Vimy Ridge to unveil two vast pylons designed by Canadian Sculptor Walter Allard and carved with the names of 12,000 Canadian dead. A rumor persisted that Queen Mary will also leave Britain for the first time since the War, pay a visit to Nazi Germany to see her girlhood home, the ducal castle of Teck in Wuerttemberg.

P: For socialite gossips, the event of the week was a formal dinner given by Edward VIII in his rooms in St. James's Palace. Guests listed in the Court Circular included:

Mrs. Ernest Simpson, the former Wallis Warfield of Baltimore, Md., known to the world press as King Edward's favorite dancing partner, his companion on numerous holiday excursions.

Mr. Ernest Simpson.

Prime Minister & Mrs. Stanley Baldwin.

Lord & Lady Louis Mountbatten. Lady Mountbatten, born Edwina Cynthia Ashley, is a famed British beauty, great & good friend of Mrs. Reginald Vanderbilt and

Lady Diana Duff Cooper, known to Britons of the War generation as Lady Diana Manners, famed for her impersonation of the Virgin Mary in The Miracle.

The Rt. Hon. Alfred Duff Cooper, Secretary of State for War, her husband.

Colonel & Mrs. Charles Augustus Lindbergh. Maud Alice, Lady Cunard, birdlike blonde widow of fox-hunting Sir Bache Cunard. The daughter of the late E. F. Burke of New York and known to Mayfair as '"Emerald," Lady Cunard is the mother of exotic Nancy Cunard, whose fondness for Negroes as dancing partners has caused many a raised eyebrow in London and New York.

Lord Wigram, longtime private secretary and intimate personal friend of George V, he shares his former master's instinctive dislike of foxtrots, cocktails and U. S. citizens.

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