Tributes to Queen Salote

Representatives of the native peoples of every one of the British Territories in the South Pacific -Papua-New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Gilbert and Ellice Colony, Fiji, Tonga, and Cook Islands— were present in London at the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth, as official guests.

All were greeted warmly by the people, especially when they appeared in the great procession which followed the Queen through London’s streets, after the crown ing ceremony.

But the limelight went especially to Queen Salote. All the com mentaries and photographs show remarkable public interest in Tonga’s handsome, smiling monarch.

In spite of rain, she travelled in an open carriage. Says one re porter: “Rain bounced off her, cold wind lashed her. but her smile

dazzled thousands and brought a great, welling cheer and a storm of clapping. It was the same all along the route . . . She waved in cessantly, with a gaiety unmatched by anyone else all day. . . . She did not lack dignity, but she did what no one else could do. She combined quality and friendliness with all the pomp and ceremony.”

It was the same whenever Queen Salote appeared, at the numerous functions: she stole the show.

There was flattering attention also for Lady Maraia, wife of Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna, of Fiji. This modest and charming lady was featured in some newspapers as “the first Fijian woman to be at Westminster Abbey for the Corona tion of a British Sovereign.”