The "Comfortable" Tour

Preparing for family summer travel, Britain's royal family sets a royal standard. Last week, on the eve of the farthest-ranging tour of Canada (44 days, 100 cities and towns, 15,000 miles) ever undertaken by a reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip read plentifully about the personalities and places they will visit. The baggage was mostly packed and at sea aboard the royal yacht Britannia, and all that was left was to kiss the children goodbye. As part of a last weekend at home, Elizabeth rode out on her horse Imp to salute the Household Guards in the ancient ceremony of Trooping the Color.

The immediate purpose of the Queen's visit is to inaugurate, with President Eisenhower in Montreal next week, the St. Lawrence Seaway.* Beyond that, the tour arrangers' purpose was to let Elizabeth see "something of the life of the average Canadian," and to let Canada see the Queen whose full Canadian title is "Elizabeth the Second, by the grace of God of the United Kingdom, Canada and her other realms and territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith." When the Queen's silver Cornet touches down at Newfoundland's St. John's Airport this week, she will whisk into an itinerary that, for all the press of excited planning across Canada, hews to cozy informality. Banished is the usual stuffy round of honor-guard reviews, cornerstone layings, garden parties. Tarrying for only a day or less in such cities as Ottawa, Winnipeg and Vancouver, the Queen will see more of her people and country than most Canadians do in a lifetime. "I can't think of a single event where silk hats will be worn," says Lieut. General Howard Graham, Ottawa's top tour planner. "Perhaps a better word for the tour than 'informal' is 'comfortable.' "

* To ease shipping slow-ups, Canada's St. Lawrence Seaway Administration last week dismayed millions of U.S. and Canadian small boat owners by barring pleasure craft less than 20 ft. from the Canadian locks, i.e., every lock from Montreal to Lake Erie except two U.S. locks near Massena, N.Y.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.