Oceans Apart - by Nigel A. JAMES
A Duchess and a President
It was against a background of bitter cold and
drifting snow that the Duchess of Devonshire confided her thoughts to her
diary. She and her husband were in Washington
as guests of the Kennedy family and the occasion wasJack Kennedy’s inauguration. It
was 1961, the 20th of January, and amongst that which she wrote were
the differences between modern American ceremony and conservative British tradition.
Her day was divided into three major parts: the
swearing in at the Capitol, the march-past at the White house, and the ball in
the evening; and each part of this day in installments provided its own unique glimpse
of cultures apart, and the first surprise came at the Capitol. The Duchess was very clearly moved by the way
that everyone ignored the prayers during the most solemn part of the swearing-in
ceremony, preferring, instead, to move around taking snaps. But what happened at the march-past at the
White House was clearly one very big shocker!
Whilst an air force contingent was marching by,
one of the airmen broke ranks, took a snap of the president, then fell back
into line and carried on with the rest.
Could you imagine that happening in London at the trooping of the colours? What would the Queen say? But that wasn’t all! The President, whilst the great march was
marching majestically by, was busy drinking coffee and eating chocolate
biscuits! Would Her Majesty do that?
But, the best was to come at the ball.
The Duchess was very obviously taken by
everyone’s willingness to speak to the press.
Unlike in Britain,
the press presented no aggressive questions and the journalists were very
respected people. But it didn’t stop there. The whole occasion was a melting
of rank!
Who ever YOU were – YOU were important!
Could this happen in England?
This Summer, I read “Wait for Me”, the Duchess of
Devonshire’s memoirs. It was a
stimulating and exciting read Full of
not-too-distant-past-history and characters that still mean a lot to very many
people. Published by Picador, ISBN
978-0-312-61064-7 51800> I very much
enjoyed it! nj.
Hot Summer Reading - by Nigel A JAMES
