The Governors' Ladies

Leaving the Bahamas (as British tradition requires) before the arrival of his successor, their retiring Governor, Sir Charles Cecil Farquharson Dundas, said of the new Governor: "I leave you now in distinguished and capable hands. . . . He is endowed with natural ability and great experience of men and affairs and exceptional knowledge of the Empire and of many foreign lands. . . ."

This distinguished new Governor did not reach Nassau last week, but he got part way to his post, landed at another British possession, Bermuda, from the U. S. ship Excalibur. A tiny admiral's barge brought the Duke & Duchess of Windsor to the landing of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club after an eight-day voyage across the glassy Atlantic from Lisbon. A naval band struck up God Save the King. An honor guard of sailors and volunteer rifles stiffened to attention. Bermuda's Governor Major General Sir Denis Kirwan Bernard strode forward to greet his onetime King with a hearty handshake.

But the serious business of the occasion was left to the ladies. The Governor's sister and official hostess, Mrs. Francis Hastings Hastings-Brooke, and Lady Kennedy-Purvis, wife of the commander of the Royal Navy's American and West Indies squadron, advanced. To the Duke, as was due a member of the royal family, they made curtsies; to the Duchess, a member of the peerage but not legally of the royal family, they bowed and gave their hands.

The bronzed Duke, wearing a straw hat, stepped into the Governor's carriage and drove off with Sir Denis behind a spanking team of imported greys. Into the carriage behind mounted the Duchess, Mrs. Hastings-Brooke and the Duke's equerry. With the utmost amiability they drove down Hamilton's flag-and-flower-decked Front Street, turned into Queen Street past Bermuda's only traffic signal, through the heart of town to Government House, enthusiastically cheered by thousands of

Bermudians. Outside the "Lodge" of the Rt. Rev. Arthur Heber Browne, 73-year-old Anglican Bishop of Bermuda--who once publicly tore down a photograph of the Windsors but apologized for it--the flag of St. George flew until just before the visiting Governor arrived.

To newsmen next day the Duke & Duchess were cordial, diplomatic, blandly evasive. With a tactful eye to U. S. tourist trade, the Duchess hoped that a "great many Americans will come to the Bahamas." The Duke talked of a visit to the U. S., quipped: "The highest building when I was there last was the Woolworth. That's dating me, isn't it?"

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