1937–38 Volume 62 No 1–5 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

A Canadian Phi at Buckingham Palace
By J. BEATTIE MACLEAN, British Columbia '27
FOR many years the opening of the
British Parliament has been associated
with fog or rain: in fact, it has been
a traditional trick of fate to hide or dim
in foul weather the pomp of this great
ceremony and procession. And this year
when I wakened on a muggy October
morning, I feared it was to be a repetition;
but by ten, the clouds were beginning
to break and blue clouds to appear.
I was one of the Canadian Exchange
Teachers in the League of Empire, whose
privilege it is annually to be invited into
the forecourt of Buckingham Palace to
see the King and Queen and Royal Procession
leave to open Parliament. This
honor is extended almost only to the
League of Empire teachers, and you can
imagine what a thrill it was to be presented
with the card of green cloth signed
by the Lord Chamberlain which gave us
admission and again what excitement
when we presented it to the guard at the
great gates and then found ourselves actually
inside.
Early in the morning the streets were
lined with crowds and filled with guards
marching into position all along the
route. Towards eleven, the mounted
guard, a hundred or more of them, arrived
at the gates and filed into position
in the courtyard—a brilliant pageant,
the men in their golden helmets, rich
swords, and brilliant uniforms, and
mounted on sleek black horses, except the
leader who rode a white horse. They
lined on each side of the courtyard facing
each other and leaving a wide isle
from the outer gates to the main doorway
through which the great coach and
royal carriages should pass.
These in procession filed into the in-
THE ROYAL PROC^SION
Upper left: The Palace Guard; right: the Mounted Guard assembles; lower left: the Royal Coach
departs; right: Return of the Coach
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