Three Cheers for the King
The Royal Visit
\i3th December, 1939}
£ ^TT^HE King is coming to France... /
I It was first of all a mystery, then a secret,
JL then a rumour. Those who knew did not
talk: those who talked did not know. All the same,
the visit had to be prepared for. It was then
announced that 'an illustrious personage5 would be
coming. The war correspondents used a code when
they had to discuss the taboo in front of strangers.
They spoke of when 'Mrs. Harris' would be coming
—when she would be at Arras. A notice put up in
the room that was reserved for them read: 'During
Mrs. Harris's visit the telephone will be open until
eleven o'clock5. Prudence justified the liberty.
Finally the troops themselves were told. To see
their joy was a joy in itself. Their loyalty had
nothing artificial about it. To these men, living on a
foreign soil, far from their native cities, their homes
and their families, the King's visit would bring
something of England. The face that they all knew,
remembered particularly by some at the Coronation,