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naturalness of Elizabeth’s behaviour in front of her Foreign Secretary and his wife. On
one occasion when Philip was sounding off about something, Elizabeth said to him ‘quite
sharply’, ‘Oh Philip, do shut up. You don’t know what you’re talking about.’ 10
On the second day out of Bermuda a Force 9 gale came up. Britannia rocked and rolled
in a welter of huge waves. Assembled for pre-dinner drinks the passengers speculated as
to who would turn up. Elizabeth, it was believed, did not enjoy rough seas. She
appeared, however,
looking philosophical, almost merry, twenty yards of chiffon scarf flung over one shoulder. Half a pace
behind her was her Consort, his face less fresh than usual, ashen and drawn, in fact. We didn’t spend long at
table that evening, and soon after returning to the drawing-room for coffee, the Queen rose to say goodnight,
resting one hand against the handle of the open sliding door which at that moment began sliding shut,
Britannia having failed to take a breathing spell before heaving over again. The Queen gripped the handle
firmly, pressed her back to the door and moved with it as it slid slowly shut, the chiffon scarf flying in the
opposite direction. ‘Wheeeeee,’ said the Queen. Britannia shuddered, reeled again. The chiffon scarf flew the
other way. ‘Wheeeeee,’ said the Queen. Britannia hesitated before the next heave. ‘Goodnight,’ said the
Queen, slipping through the door, Prince Philip half a pace behind her… When we foregathered in the
drawing-room before lunch, complexions were better than the evening before. ‘I have never seen so many
grey and grim faces round a dinner table,’ said the Queen. She paused. ‘Philip was not at all well.’ She
paused. ‘I’m glad to say.’ She giggled. I’d forgotten that her Consort is an Admiral of the Fleet. 11
The heat in Philadelphia and Washington that July was appalling, the temperature
hovering around 100° Fahrenheit at night and in the shade, the humidity suffocating.
The schedule worked out between the royal household and the US authorities was
punishing. In Washington it involved in one day an arrival ceremony on the White
House lawn, a reception at the British Embassy for foreign heads of mission, a reception
and a luncheon at the Capitol, followed by an inspection of the Magna Carta in the
Rotunda, a visit to the Smithsonian Institution and an exhibition of London Treasures,
and to the National Gallery for the ‘Eye of Jefferson’ exhibition, a presentation at the
District Building, and a dinner and reception at the British Embassy for President and
Mrs Ford. ‘The Queen never faltered in the day’s walkabout under a remorseless sun,
crowds stretching their arms out to her,’ Susan Crosland wrote. On the Monday evening
before the first day of the visit, the Queen had shown her how to stand for hours without
tiring. ‘“One plants one’s feet like this,” said Her Majesty, hoisting skirt above ankles to
demonstrate. “Always keep them parallel. Make sure your weight is evenly distributed.
That’s all there is to it.”’
State visits by the Queen have a glamour which no politician can rival, an intangible
value which is symbolic rather than real, but valuable none the less. Elizabeth is very
conscious of being the representative of the British people and ‘the condition of Britain’
is something which concerns her deeply. Just occasionally, in the late 1970s when
Britain seemed to be slipping into irreversible decline with the economy diving and
unemployment rising, she let her preoccupations show in odd asides, usually when some
visit with an historical context brought it home to her. On the German state visit of