The Last Weekend

In crisp sunshine and under cloudless skies, London readied itself for the much wrangled-over wedding of Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones.

While the young couple spent their last unmarried weekend at the Royal Lodge in Windsor with the Queen and Prince Philip, workmen completed the 60-foot arch of roses through which the procession will pass. The 2,500 troops who will line the march rehearsed their duties and boned up on the eleven pages of orders of the day. Just opposite Westminster Abbey rose tier on tier of seats for those willing to pay $15 to $75 for a closeup view. An official tersely admitted that, so far, there is "nothing like a rush" to buy, and advertisements have been placed in German, Italian and French newspapers in the hope of unloading tickets on foreigners.

The most unusual of the guests are those invited by the groom. For the first time in history a charwoman has been asked to a royal wedding: she is 50-year-old Betty Peabody of Trollope Street, who looked after Tony for three years in his Pimlico apartment. His other guests range from a bus driver and the postmistress of the Welsh village of Bontnewydd, near his father's home, to such stage celebrities as Jean Cocteau, Leslie Caron, Sir Michael Redgrave and Emlyn Williams. Marlene Dietrich was invited but, like all the crowned heads of Europe except Queen Ingrid of Denmark, she is too busy to come.

There were still muttered complaints. "What a grudging mood seems to have set in," complained Daily Express Columnist Godfrey Winn. Labor M.P.s protested the expense (an estimated $112,000) of the Caribbean honeymoon aboard the royal yacht Britannia. There was grumbling over the Palace's refusal to let the young couple drive in an open car through London on their way to embarking, and the banning of any sightseeing craft from the vicinity of the yacht itself. But when the great day finally arrives this week, it could be safely predicted that all Britain will be vibrating like a harp and ready to enjoy the thoroughly loverly fairy tale of the handsome young commoner who marries the beautiful princess.

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