Bon Voyage

On a happy occasion in the House of Commons. Sir Winston Churchill bade his sovereign a formal bon voyage and compared her globe-girdling trip with that of Sir Francis Drake, the first English captain to sail around the world. "It may well be that the journey which the Queen is about to take will be no less auspicious," said her majesty's first minister.

Other M.P.s echoed Sir Winston's good wishes. From the Labor benches, elderly Welshman David Grenfell rose to declare that in 31 years he had never before made a nonpartisan speech. "I have been unashamedly a party man," he said, "[but] this is not a controversial occasion. It contains the promise of the most marvelous demonstration of unity that the empire has ever witnessed."

Six Trees, Six Parliaments. This week Queen Elizabeth, the Duke of Edinburgh and a party of ten royal attendants set forth* on a 30,000-mile trip through her Commonwealth. It will be no mere royal joy ride. It will be the Queen's job to reestablish cordial acquaintance with countless thousands of her subjects all over the world. She will be required to preside graciously at half a hundred state balls, garden parties, luncheons and banquets, at eleven investitures, 133 receptions and 27 children's displays. She will open six Parliaments, lay seven wreaths, unveil three memorials, plant six trees, dedicate a school in Fiji, a road in Jamaica and a cathedral in New Zealand. If all this does not in itself add up to history, the tact, charm and grace with which Elizabeth and her husband perform their courtesy calls will have an important bearing on the future of their realm.

Harpers & Carpers. Like all politicians, anointed or elected, Britain's royalty must keep its fences mended. The coronation year of grace, during which criticism of the royal family has been tacitly withheld, is all but over in Britain. Once again the carpers and the harpers are busy. "They are at it again," said Lord Rothermere's Daily Sketch last week, "the croakers, the killjoys, the pestiferous busybodies, all telling the Queen what to do . . ."

In Ceylon, two nationalist M.P.s got up a petition asking the Queen not to visit that dominion on the ground that her visit would be too expensive. In the British Parliament, Bevanite and near-Bevan-ite Socialists were once again raising the cry that royalty was too costly ($1,700,000 a year) and too undemocratic. A Socialist scolded the Queen for maintaining a private enclosure for the horse races at Ascot; a Methodist minister scolded her for going to races at all ("They are full of racketeers"). The same outraged Methodist berated the Duke of Edinburgh for playing polo on Sunday, while the leftists howled that he took too much interest in politics. (In a speech at Edinburgh, Philip had cautiously praised compulsory military service as "character building.")

In Philip's defense, the clerical British Weekly said, "The Duke of Edinburgh is not a royal moron, and there is no reason why he should be expected to behave like one." As the royal party took off, Elizabeth had at least the satisfaction of knowing that Parliament had enough faith in her husband to pass the bill she had asked for, making him Regent to rule for Prince Charles in case of her death.

Even the young prince, five-year-old Charles himself, was under discussion last week as Laborite M.P. Jean Mann urged that he forgo the private primary education usually given royalty and go off to a state school. The Queen made no comment on this suggestion, but as a mother, mindful of the childhood loneliness she herself had suffered when King George VI and Queen Elizabeth went abroad, she made arrangements to have tape recordings of her voice flown back to Charles and his little sister at least once a week during the whole tour.

*By Stratocruiser to Jamaica. There they board the 15,902-ton liner-turned-yacht Gothic for the trip to Fiji via the Panama Canal. From then on, they will make six more changes from ship to plane and back, returning to London May 15, 1954.

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