Gentlemen, the Queen!

Mean to the Queen is what Britain's press will let no man be. And when the offender is German, the offense is worse: the British are currently in the mood of resenting the fact that in a Berlin crisis it would be Germans they were fighting to save. All this was behind a Fleet Street tizzy last week. The press had found a West German election cartoon showing Queen Elizabeth II simpering happily at a granite-faced but visionary Chancellor Konrad Adenauer (.see cut) under the legend: "Partners of the Free World."

Huffed London's Daily Sketch: "It is believed that never before has the Queen been used--especially in a cartoon--to capture votes in an election." The London Times majestically remarked that the Queen's traditional detachment from politics "may not have been fully appreciated in Germany." The British Foreign Office "drew attention" to the matter in an icy phone call to the West German embassy.

The Germans were properly apologetic. The government press office conceded that the Queen's picture had appeared in a 24-page booklet distributed from an Adenauer campaign train, but added that distribution was "stopped the moment the Queen's picture was discovered--some time before the British Foreign Office intervened." At the moment, the leading Christian Democrats do not even think they need the Queen's help. All pre-election polls show Adenauer likely to win the Sept. 17 election. The Socialist challenger. West Berlin's Mayor Willy Brandt, seems unable to get his campaign far enough off the ground.

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