One of Those Things

Tall, ash-blonde, Vassar-grad Letitia Baldridge, daughter of Nebraska's ex-Congressman Malcolm Baldridge, was worried. Rain (always a possibility in London) would absolutely ruin her navy blue straw with velvet ribbons and the grey silk print she had bought in Paris. Then, too, there was the devastating possibility that a member of the Royal Family might speak to her. "I just hope to goodness," said Tish, "that I haven't a plate of food in my hand if I have to curtsy."

She needn't have fretted on either count. The sun shone brightly over Buckingham Palace for their Majesties' second presentation garden party of the year. "It's a plummy peach of a day, isn't it?" said chic Peggy Douglas, wife of U.S. Ambassador Lewis Douglas, in the diplomatic tea tent. As for curtsies, the 100-odd Americans mingled with the 5,000 Britons at the party found it hard to get close to royalty. Mrs. Adele Vercoe, who is an old hand at such functions, having lived in England on & off for years, managed a quick bob before the Queen Mother. Tish had to content herself with lesser folk. "The men," she said later, "were the most attractive bunch I've ever seen, but then I think Englishmen are terrific anyway."

Blonde, blue-eyed Mrs. Francis Miller from Philadelphia, whose husband was just demobbed from the King's Royal Rifle Corps, "kept looking at Queen Mary, because I think she's so cute." The American girls were surprised to find the Princesses so small. They were particularly impressed with the Queen and one admitted later that King George "was certainly attractive." Most of them were startled to find their British counterparts as well-dressed as themselves. "I saw only one or two curtains," said Denise Lawson-Johnston, of the New York Bovril people, in wondering tones.

Even the food (provided by London's Childs-like Lyons restaurants) was a surprise. "Somebody passed me a plate," said pretty, petite Denise afterward, "with the words, 'You can eat this, my dear, it's real cake.' " A U.S. newsman who tasted King George's tea, however, "was compelled to report regretfully that it was bad."

But all in all the party was a huge success from the U.S. point of view. As Tish said: "It was one of the most wonderful experiences I've ever had, just one of those typical English things we can't reproduce in America."

A couple of days later, at the traditionally kaleidoscopic "Trooping the Color" in honor of King George's official birthday (his real birthday is Dec. 14), Princess Elizabeth stole another typically British show with a display of equestrienne perfection (see cut) as she rode sidesaddle in the parade in the uniform of a Grenadier Guards' colonel.

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