SARAH GAINHAM writes from Bonn:
The weather is playing it English, which is the same as saying Rhineland weather, so that nobody can be sure whether it will rain or shine; and the crowds have taken a little too much to heart the lectures they have been reading about behaving with dignity and not shouting. Where People get close enough, hearts are won in an instant—but both the Queen and the Germans seem to be a little shy. If Prince Philip would call out even two words in his perfect German there would be a roar you could hear in London: it just needs a little gesture to unlock the ex- citement.
Having spoken to him, a waiter at Bruehl opined that he was a splendid chap; the Ger-
mans admire tall men and see in the Duke the finest type of German nobleman, but they are afraid to claim acquaintance in case that might not be the thing to do. The remarks I heard most
often wereu'Is it true about her jewels?' and `But she's tiny' and 'What, a dear little thing.'
People are touched that the Queen sent roses
- --red ones, to add a slight charming misunder- standing to a compliment—to old ex-Chancellor
Adenauer, who is not 'well. The remoteness that makes people shy is no bad thing; people would not approve if the Queen behaved like everyone else; but they would love it if she blew kisses to the crowds just once perhaps.
The Ambassadors of the Commonwealth coun- tries, who so often show themselves highly nationalist, have insisted on their rights to hold a reception for the Queen, and protocol-domin- ated advisers agreed; but the time would perhaps
have been more happily spent in a visit to an orphanage or one of Bonn's new schools. The sentimental Germans would have enjoyed that, whereas their relations with the new nations tend to be somewhat one-sided and they do not quite understand why diplomats who normally insist on their independence are suddenly so keen to be British.
What everyone in Bonn is delighted about is that the Queen wants especially to see the Rhine
from the water; her approval of the magnificent
view of the great river from her temporary resi- dence is requoted all over the town and everyone gets a little misty when they think of her floating —they hope in sunlight—on the 'turbulent soul of Germany.'
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