A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
ANYONE who watched stands being erected in the Mall in the second week of November in preparation for a Coronation in the first week of June might veil conclude that we were a demented people. , And 9 we are - in danger of becoming. A Coronation is a Plemn and an important ceremony, but it is really cesirable to keep some proportion about it. The Queen is reigning, and has been for nine months, uncrowned, as well as she could possibly do crowned, for nothing could, or will be able to, exceed the grace and charm and wisdom with which he has been discharging the duties so suddenly and unexpec- edly laid on her. Of course the Queen must be crowned and vith no stint of solemnity or pageantry. But why cannot the ceremony be Simpler and sooner ? The one person who seems o have the most conspicuously right ideas is, as we have already learnt to expect, the Queen herself. "It is Her Majesty's express wish," says the Minister of Housing and Local Govern- nent, in a circular to Local Authorities regarding local Coronation observances, "that the celebrations should be as imple as possible and that all undue expenditure should be ;voided." One characteristic of our recent sovereigns has been their supreme good sense. Nowhere does that appear nore clearly than in Harold Nicolson's George V. Queen Elizabeth's interpretation of the role of sovereign will be vatched with singular interest. It may differ in some respects rom that of her predecessors. It is certain that it will not differ or the worse. * * * *
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