Sense of Grandeur

Not for a century and a half has the little Leeward island of St. Kitts had such a week as last week. There were parties, balls, routs and receptions. Nobody went to bed all night. The excited local correspondent cabled that St. Kitts "had a greater sense of Empire grandeur than it has had since Admiral Rodney drove the French fleet from the Caribbean in 1782."

First there was the fleet, the greatest assemblage of warships Britain has ever sent to the West Indies. The Nelson and Rodney were there. So were the Constance, the Valiant, the Malaya. For over a week the blue harbor of Basseterre flashed with brass and bright flags. Pop-eyed native boatmen grinned delightedly as the Captains' barges scudded across the bay. each with two sailors upright in the bow. swinging boathooks in perfect unison.The final ceremony was a grand review on the old cricket ground of all the Royal Marines. The Commander in Chief, Admiral Sir William ("Ginger") Boyle took the salute, and when the fleet finally sailed away for a month's battle practice all the planes of the carrier Furious were shot into the air to swing in formation around the city.

Same week saw a visit from three royal princesses, arriving together on the Canadian Pacific Duchess of Richmond. Britain's royal princesses are much less well known than its royal princes. The three distinguished ladies (see cut) who reached St. Kitts last week are all first cousins of George V and grandchildren of Queen Victoria. The two eldest, Princesses Helena Victoria, 63, and Marie Louise, 61, are daughters of Queen Victoria's fifth child, Helena Augusta Victoria and Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein.

The youngest of the touring princesses, 51-year-old Princess Alice, is the daughter of Queen Victoria's eighth child, Leopold. Duke of Albany. She married the handsome Earl of Athlone 30 years ago and is better known to newspaper readers as the Countess of Athlone. The three touring princesses stepped graciously ashore together last week, walked down a bunting-clad wharf, and received three large bouquets of tropical flowers from three little girls.

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