Senorita L.B.J.

"Take care of my girl," the President admonished the ambassador. So when Lynda Bird Johnson, 22, stepped off the tourist section of a TWA jet in Madrid last week, the "unofficial" reception committee resembled the twelve days of Christmas. On hand were U.S. Ambassador to Spain Angier Biddle Duke, his wife, two of her children, the U.S. deputy chief of mission, the ambassador's special assistant, the embassy press attache, two Spanish Foreign Ministry functionaries, six White House Secret Service men, 25 press photographers, and Lynda Bird watchers as thick as pears on a pear tree. After a few days, Lynda was lamenting that it was altogether too much.

The two-week Hispanic holiday was intended, after all, as a serious exploration, a college graduation gift from her parents. As History Major Lynda told newsmen on arrival, her aim was "to get to know your country." To this end, Ambassador Duke's pretty wife Robin shepherded her on visits to Madrid's Royal Palace, the Alcazar in Toledo, the palace and mausoleum at Escorial. Wherever she went, the President's daughter displayed unflagging curiosity. Didn't King Philip II have four wives? Why wasn't Philip V buried at Escorial? How come Isabel II is en tombed in the row reserved for kings?*

Lynda also got to know some of Madrid's most eligible bachelors, among them dashing David Niven Jr., 29, thoughtfully imported for a lively embassy party tossed by the Dukes. And what about Actor George Hamilton, her beau back home? "I still have no thoughts of getting married," said she. As for Lynda, the Spanish swingers' verdict was: "Muy guapa. Much prettier than her photographs."

Guarded Plans. Between frugging and rubbernecking, Lynda sandwiched in a picnic, slept late in the mornings and had her hair coiffed at one of Madrid's smart salons. On her public forays, she had no bravo's for the ever-present photographers and overprotective Secret Service escorts. Anxious to see Spain as a tourist instead of a celebrity, she finally had a heart-to-heart chat with Robin. Three of the Secret Service men were peeled off, and it was decided to keep her plans a little more guarded from the press, particularly the photographers, whom Senorita L.B.J. dismissed one night with the plea: "No mas! No more!" Turning down a Spanish air force offer to put a DC-3 at her disposal, she decided to travel by unmarked auto, train or commercial plane.

Lynda also turned down an invitation to a bullfight with the blithe explanation: "I've seen enough bulls down at the ranch to satisfy me." As one of her bemused escorts observed, "She is very much her father's daughter."

*Answers: 1) Philip II was wed to Maria of Portugal, Mary I of England, Elizabeth of Valois and Anna, daughter of Emperor Maximilian II; 2) Philip V could not abide Escorial's royal vault, was buried at his request at La Granja; 3) Isabel was so rewarded because she had been a reigning queen.

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