All Out in Chicago

The royal visit to Chicago lasted only 14 hours, but it was the most lavish 14 hours of pageantry in Chicago's history, and the warmest reception Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip have had so far on their North American tour.

More than a million Chicagoans lined the Lake Michigan shore front to watch the royal yacht Britannia steam into harbor, escorted by seven warships and saluted by more than 500 small craft, including two Chinese junks. U.S. Air Force and Navy jets thundered across the sky; aerial torpedoes exploded parachutes carrying the Stars and Stripes and Union Jacks.

The Sun-Times, irrevocably establishing Chicago's reputation as the Windy City, splashed the story all over Page One and plugged "other stories and pictures on pages 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, n, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 22, 24, 25." The once Anglophobic Tribune (whose late proprietor, Colonel Robert McCormick, suspected that Rhodes scholars were British agents in disguise) flew the Union Jack from its tower. As the royal couple acknowledged greetings from a welcoming party of seven Midwestern Governors and 40 mayors, pressing throngs surged forward, fairly overran the 2,000 city police who were assigned to guard the Queen. "That's a lovely billy--I'd like to borrow it some time," cracked Prince Philip to a Chicago cop as he eyed the yelling people. "Hi, Liz!" they cried. "Hey, Queen!" That night at a glittering dinner (with gold tablecloths, gold service, 50,000 roses) given by Mayor Richard Daley, the Queen confessed happily: "This has been an unforgettable day."

At midnight, her tiara sparkling in the blazing lights. Queen Elizabeth bade Chicago farewell. As sirens wailed and fireworks plumed above the lake, Queen and Prince boarded Britannia to sail on to Sault Ste. Marie and Port Arthur. In the harbor, a lone amateur trumpeter, on the deck of his cabin cruiser, touchingly sounded his own version of Pomp and Circumstance.

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