For those of you who are really interested in the actual story of when the PRINCESS SPENDS NIGHT IN “ TREETOPS” HOTEL The Princess thought her father would benefit from a visit to the Lodge the following winter, and although the house was so small she made plans for accommodating the King there. There were no stairs, so it would be easy for him. She spoke of giving Prince Charles and Princess Anne a holiday at the Lodge also. This was Tuesday, 5th February. In the afternoon the Princess and the Duke had arranged to go to “Treetops,” a Swiss Family Robinson “ hotel ” built high in a huge fig tree in the Aberdare Forest game reserve, to spend the night there and watch the wild animals at the pool and saltlick below. The Princess put on brown slacks and a yellow shirt and the Duke wore a tropical bush shirt. On their way their car stopped at the Nyeri Police Training School where Askaris in their tall red tarbushes and broad red belts were lined up for inspection. It was supposed to be a holiday, but the Princess had her public duties just the same. Another stop outside the local Primary School—and the Princess and the Duke met one of the shrillest receptions of their Kenya visit. Two thousand children, European, Indian and African, mobbed the royal car, cheering madly, and as it drove off they raced alongside, wild with enthusiasm. At the edge of the forest the party left their cars and, walking in single file, took the narrow path leading quarter of a mile uphill to Treetops. Major Sherbrooke Walker, the white hunter who owns the hotel, warned them they must talk in whispers so as not to disturb the wild animals. Three men of the party, including the Duke, carried rifles, and every fifty yards rickety ladders fixed to trees provided a getaway in case of attack. There was no alarm— until the party reached the mighty fig tree beside the pool. Then, only 11 yards from the foot of the ladder leading up to Treetops, a large elephant, one of a herd of 46, appeared behind the low scrub hedge. The Duke covered the dangerously in¬quisitive animal with his gun as the Princess, more interested than alarmed, crossed the clearing and climbed up to the Treetops hotel 30 feet above. From the observation balcony the Princess and the Duke took photographs of the herd below. Next arrived a party of baboons. The Princess threw down sweet potatoes and laughed as she watched Kraa, the leader of the troop, scramble for the best bits. Treetops has been in existence for twenty years, but that night’s show of animals was a record. One drama of the wild recorded by the royal cameras was a battle between two waterbuck. More elephants arrived and cavorted clumsily round the pool. After dark, rhinos appeared, and artificial moonlight from a lamp in the branches of the fig- tree was turned on so that the Princess and the Duke could see them clearly. They were so fascinated by the animals that they could hardly be persuaded to leave the balcony for the Treetops dining-room where a complete hot dinner, including creamed chicken, was ready. Nderito, the smiling African servant, had prepared it in his little treetop kitchen. Several times during the night the Royal couple got up from their camp beds to watch the snorting rhino fighting in the light of the artificial moon. At 8-30 next morning—which was 5-30 a.m. in England—they climbed down from the tree and stole cautiously along the path to their waiting car. I was among a group of journalists and Africans waiting on the road to the Lodge to watch them pass an hour or so later. The Princess and the Duke were smiling and carefree. None of us knew that by then King George VI lay dead at Sandringham, and this laughing girl in the yellow shirt was Queen. It was not until after lunch at the Lodge that day that the news reached Africa. The Duke broke it to his wife in their white-walled holiday sitting-room, with its gay brick-red and grey chintzes and vases of bright flowers. “ She took it bravely, like a Queen,” I was told afterwards. Immediately the Queen gave commands for her return to London as speedily as possible. In the bustle of departure she forgot no detail. She even sat down at her desk to sign photographs for the staff of African servants, and presented one to each as she said goodbye. In two and three-quarter hours she was ready to drive to Nanyuki airfield, where a Dakota, which was to have taken her to Mombasa to board the Gothic next day, was waiting to make the flight to Entebbe. There the silver B.O.A.C. Argonaut was being flown from Mombasa to take the new Queen of England home. Only a handful of people were at Nanyuki airfield for the start of that tragic journey. To them the Queen said, “ Even if things are different now, we will come back.” Thunderstorms, which had hit the Kenya highlands with sinister suddenness just before the news of the King’s death reached the Lodge, delayed the Queen’s flight to London. She had to wait three hours at Entebbe before the weather was fit for the Argonaut to take off. Next day, Thursday, February 7th, the Queen landed at London Airport, which she had quitted with such high hopes the Friday before. This time there were no flags, no cheering crowds. Mr. Churchill, her Prime Minister, with Mr. Attlee the leader of the Opposition, and Mr. Clement Davies the Liberal leader, waited to greet her. They bowed over the hand of their Queen in silent, sorrowful homage.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 18:15:34 +0000