Word: buckingham
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Somewhat tense but never impatient, the crowd had waited at the gates since early morning, but it was not until the afternoon shadows had begun to lengthen that the superintendent of Buckingham Palace at last made his appearance. His face wore a broad grin, and his hand bore a simple two-sentence statement handwritten on pale grey stationery and signed by the Queen's four doctors. "Is it a boy?" shouted someone in the crowd as the superintendent hung the gilt-framed announcement upon the railings. "Yes, it is," he shouted back, and the crowd cheered...
...birth was still "imminent," but a faint wave of uneasiness had begun to spread across the nation. Then, at lunchtime on Friday, the long-awaited report was issued that all four doctors were once again "in attendance." Finally, a little after 3:30 p.m., Prince Philip burst out of Buckingham Palace's Belgian suite, beaming. "It's a boy!" he told attendants, and then rushed to telephone Prince Charles at Cheam School...
...Portsmouth, H.M.S. Vanguard, last of Her Majesty's battleships, fired a salute. Cannon roared at Windsor and Cardiff castles, and as far away as Gibraltar and Accra. Over Buckingham Palace the Queen's huge ceremonial standard was unfurled, and to all ships and shore stations the Admiralty sent a signal: "Birth of a son to H.M. Queen Elizabeth announced. Splice the main brace." As messages poured in from governments all over the world, 81-year-old Poet Laureate John Masefield worked over a bit of verse that began: "O child descended from a line of kings...
...right-wing types in England, he remains "the man who gave India away" under the direction of Attlee's Socialist government. To society, he and his Edwina are too flamboyant and pushy, e.g., they dress their male staff in the same navy blue uniforms as the Buckingham Palace staff...
...what Mrs. Forsythe had told her: "The Queen is having a special facial just before her new baby is born, and will have one directly afterwards." It took all of 24 hours for this tiding to saturate London, where Elizabeth returned last week to await the royal event at Buckingham Palace...