I read that the list of proposed invitations to a
lunch in honour of Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh at Vancouver has been reduced from 300 to 140 " when it was found that etiquette requires that no one may sit with his or her back to the royal guests." Well, but isn't it time etiquette was stripped of some of the silliness and snobbery that still bangs round it ? Never perhaps has this country been blessed with a royal family that discharged its often onerous functions under the constitution more admirably than King George and Queen Elizabeth and their daughters are doing today. But they are, after all, human beings. Traditions are of high value, and ceremonial within due limits has a proper place. But this calls itself a democracy, and if, in a Dominion of all places, more than half the prospective guests at a luncheon are to be excluded because the exigencies of seating prevent them from facing the Princess and the Duke, then some ideas about etiquette need sharp revision. I take leave to believe that no one would regret the action taken in this case more keenly than the royal pair themselves. I have been at a luncheon where some of the company necessarily had their backs to the King and Queen. If Their Majesties felt affronted on that occasion, I can only say that they concealed their emotions remarkably well.
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