Guarding the Color

The British War Office was taking no chances last week. As thousands of sightseers milled about the Mall and the Horse Guards Parade for the first postwar full-dress Trooping the Color in honor of the King's official birthday,* the War Office called off the show. A curt official announcement blamed the weather. But the crowds stared suspiciously at the bright sun. What was up? Rumors whipped round that King George was flat on his back, .that Queen Mary was dead, that Princess Elizabeth had had a miscarriage, or that somebody had planted a bomb.

By afternoon the authorities were forced to admit the truth: three adverse weather reports had been received early in the morning and it had been deemed unwise to expose the newly refurbished scarlet uniforms and bearskins of the Guard's Brigade. Snapped Tory M.P. Hugh Linstead in a letter to the Times next day: "Have we now reached the stage when no one in authority dare say 'carry on' if a meteorologist says it is going to rain?" Brigade HQ countered apologetically: "There were storms--there was a cloudburst over Clapham Junction [four miles away]." Britons felt cheated. Blimped the father of one subaltern: "Dammit, the Guards never run--nor do their uniforms."

* Dec. 14, but officially celebrated early in June in hope of decent weather.

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