and 1967, Her Majesty the Queen was always by the young monarch’s side. In 1968 she published a book of anecdotes
about those trips entitled In Memory of the State Visits of His Majesty the King. The following are English-language
translations of excerpts from this memoir.
 |
| MAIN PICTURE, ABOVE: Their Majesties the King and Queen during their state visits to the United States and Europe in 1960. FAR LEFT: Surrounded by military troops and adoring English subjects, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of England and His Majesty King Bhumibol travel by carriage from Victoria Railway Station to Buckingham Palace. LEFT: Their Majesties meet President Francisco Franc of Spain in November 1960. |
I once thought that visiting foreign countries would be a
joyful and exciting experience, especially for young people.
In 1952, when I was only 19 years old, I returned home to
Thailand with the King and our eldest daughter who was
not yet one year old. Then, from that time on, until I was
27 years old, I never left my homeland at all because the
King definitely had no intention of leaving the country,
except for an unavoidable reason. As the head of the Thai
nation, the King thought it best to stay inside the country
in order to be close to his people. Even when holidaying,
he chose to remain in Thailand traveling either to the North
or to the South, as opportunities arose. He never thought
of going skiing in a cold country in the winter or of shopping
in any neighbouring countries. He would never have
thought of seeking pleasure as others of the same status
might have, and as for me, I never thought of going anywhere
if he did not go.
THE FIRST PRESS CONFERENCE
The first country we visited in 1960 was the United States
of America. I remember a most fearful event was when the
King gave a press conference. It was this event that almost
crushed my excitement at visiting America for the first time.
I still remember the King’s first press conference. I sat
motionlessly beside his chair, my hands icy cold with fear.
The room was full of microphones and tape recorders, and
spotlights that targeted powerful beams of light onto our
faces, and my eyes were blurred. Many camera bulbs were
constantly flashing, reporters surrounded us, and all eyes
were stuck on us. They took photographs, made films for
television broadcasting, and interviewed the King – all at
the same time...
The process of asking and responding to questions lasted
at least 40 minutes. The King was bombarded by the
reporters’ questions. It was more like the accused standing
before a group of jurors than a press conference. Finally, I
gave a silent sigh of relief. The first press conference in our
lives had come to an end.
The American public relations officer, who was on duty,
came to the King and asked him how he had felt about the
press conference, whether anything about it had worried
him at all. The King replied that initially he had felt worried
because it was his first ever press conference. The public
relations officer was very impressed with how well His
Majesty had handled it, especially as it had not been
conducted in our native language. He had not noticed any
sign that His Majesty might have felt frustrated or stressed.
The public relations officer had had many opportunities
to observe the leaders of other nations. He had seen
press conferences like ours many times. Some leaders
perspired, and others stammered and could not keep the
conversation going smoothly enough which spoiled the
impression others had of their personality. Thus, a television
broadcast would result in an audience laughing at
such a speaker. Instead of identifying with him, an audience
would not be impressed by such a weak performance.
How common and natural it seems for people to criticise others, but being a role model for other people to respect
is very difficult.
 |
| CLOCKWISE, FROM
RIGHT:
Amid flowing confetti, His
Majesty the King receives a
warm welcome from the
people of New York City. Their Majesties the King and Queen travel from Buckingham Palace to Guildhall to attend a the Lord Mayor of London. US President Eisenhower welcomes Their Majesties. 60YEARS |
AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE
Queen Elizabeth II and her husband hosted us at Buckingham
Palace, and we stayed in a wing opposite to theirs.
The Queen had arranged for us to stay in the Belgian Suite
at the northwest corner of the palace, on the ground floor.
This suite had originally been designed for King George
IV’s needs, since he was so obese that he could not climb
up the stairs. He had died, however, before he had ever had
a chance to move in. The reason for it being called the Belgian
Suite could have been due to the fact that Queen Victoria’s
uncle, King Leopold I of Belgium, was a regular visitor to
England in that period long ago. The kings of many countries had stayed in these
rooms Queen Elizabeth had different souvenirs from Thailand
arranged for us in our suite. These included water bowls
and saucers, golden trunks, small snuff boxes, cigarette
cases, swords with engraved scabbards, gold-plated tea
sets, and other items to decorate our living quarters at
Buckingham Palace so that we would feel “at home” while
we were there. These had been gift items from King Rama
IV to Queen Victoria, sent through royal ambassadors led
by Phya Montri Suriwong and escorts like Mom Rachothai
and presented to Queen Victoria in 1857 (BE 2400). Apparently these items were
usually kept in Windsor Palace...
I personally felt that every time the King met Queen
Elizabeth, they talked to each other so easily, even though
they had only met just a few days before. This could possibly
have been because they shared similar views and also
because they were about the same age. It was especially
evident that night when the King and Queen Elizabeth
were sharing jokes and teasing one another in a friendly way. This made others
around the table also feel at ease, and everyone enjoyed themselves...
CROWDS IN GERMANY
On the first day of our arrival in Germany, we were very
excited to see crowds of people, who joyfully greeted us
everywhere we went, shouting blessings and waving to us.
I was surprised because I had never expected such a warm
welcome. From what I knew of Germany, this country was
rich and economically advanced in its development, while
we both came from an oriental country that was neither
rich nor important for Europeans. So we felt very humble.
We could not have even dared to imagine that thousands
and thousands of people would come out like this to
welcome us.
It was so crowded along the sides of the roads all the way
from the railway station to our residence. The people were
smiling and looked very happy to see us. Some had words
of blessing for us and some shouted “Long Live Thailand.” When we arrived at
our residence, thousands of people were even waiting for us at the entrance.
As soon as they
saw us, they began to clap their hands approvingly. After
we entered the building the crowd still would not go home.
Instead, the gathering grew larger and larger due to people
from elsewhere also joining the throng. They were urging
us to come out again, so that they could see us.
 |
| BELOW, LEFT TO RIGHT:
His Majesty the King kisses
the hand of Her Majesty
Queen of Denmark. Their Majesties meet President Charles De Gaulle and his wife. Their Majesties grant an audience to Los Angeles newspaper journalist |
Finally, the director general of the Protocol Department
who had been with us all the time, asked us what to do
because this large crowd just would not go home. They
kept on shouting our names and wanting to see us again.
The King decided to persuade me to go out with him onto
the veranda. When they saw us, they applauded and beckoned
affably to us. After smiling and waving to them for a
while, we came inside to our quarters. The crowd, however,
still would not go home and called for us to go out again.
We eventually went out to see them three times before they
decided to go home. They felt great concern that we had
made such a long journey and were feeling tired and in
need of rest.
Although they would not have realised it, we could not forget the warm welcome
and hospitality that the German people shared with us everywhere we went during
our nine
days in Germany. It was a true state visit because the entire
population joined with their government to create a climate
of friendship towards the representatives of another land who had visited them.
It was a lifetime memory for us...
Nine days into our visit, the German government
provided [a] train for us to go to Switzerland. When the
train stopped at the last station, which was on the Swiss-
German border, so that some German officers who were
attending to us could bid us farewell, the station was full of
people and the two passenger trains on our left and right
sides were full of passengers. They poked out their smiling
faces and waved to us. When our train prepared to go to
the Swiss border, all the people at the station, including the
station officers, officers who had attended to us for nine
days, the passengers in all the carriages and the people on
the platforms, without any advance arrangement, sang “Auf Wiedersehen” (which means “Till We Meet Again”),
as a farewell song. Someone started to sing, and then everyone
followed. The train slowly left German territory with a
wonderful farewell song that all the people sang for us. We
felt both deeply appreciative and at the same time sad to
leave these beloved German people. It was an experience
that caused some of our entourage to shed tears.
Six years later, in 1966, when I accompanied the King on
an official visit to Germany, the German government and
the people greeted us with the same warm welcome in
every city we visited. It was no different from our first visit.
This time, we went to some cities in the north, which we
had not visited during our first trip. The King was very
interested in the harbour enterprise at Bremen Harbour.
Another thing to which the King paid particular attention
was the marine and fishing industry, which produced
canned fish and smoked fish, amongst other products,
and which used alternative methods to preserve fish. His
interest was solely to apply what he had seen in order to
improve Thailand’s own fishing and marine industry...
MEETING THE POPE The Vatican covered a vast
area of 13.5 acres. I heard that there were 1,001 rooms altogether in the
Vatican,
and even
walking past a few rooms that morning left me feeling
exhausted. Each room looked grand. There were paintings
along the walls painted by the world’s greatest artists, such
as Raphael and Michelangelo.
We walked past two throne rooms leading to the room
where the Pope was waiting for the King and myself. He
had the others wait outside and then led us into his room
by himself.
When the Pope held out his hand, the King bent down
before him and shook his hand, but the King told me later
that the Pope had held out his hand to pull the King up so
that he would not bend down too low. Both of us thought
he was very kind. He probably did not want us to violate
the rules of our religion.
When the Pope held his hand out to me, I curtsied with
respect while I shook his hand. We thought that not only
was he senior, he also had noble qualifications to be
respected by people around the world. Lord Buddha once
taught us that “to worship those who are worthy is a great
blessing.” This Pope was a most venerable person. Just
looking at him made me feel that he was good, pure and
full of loving kindness.
The Pope talked to the King in French. They talked for
almost an hour on all kinds of broad issues. Finally, they
talked about Thailand and Buddhism. The King informed
the Pope that he himself supported all religions in Thailand.
Our people were free to embrace any religion they
like. He told him there were a number of Roman Catholics
in Thailand and they were good citizens of our country.
This was proof that any person who is strict in his religion
will be a good person, since every religion teaches human
being to do good things.
‘AS HAPPY AS A KING’
Although we spent only four days in Belgium, our visit
there was extremely concentrated. We had to travel with
King Baudouin to many cities where the languages of
French and or Flemish were spoken. The King talked to
King Baudouin in French. In cities where the people spoke
French as their native language, King Baudouin would
speak French and in cities where Flemish was the native
language, he would speak English, not French, for political
reasons. As many of you might know, even though Belgium
is a small country, the people speak two languages: French
and Flemish. The French-speaking people think that French
is important while the Flemish-speaking people think that
Flemish is equally important.
Every morning during our four-day visit, King Baudouin
would arrive to take us out to different cities. Before arriving
at the palace in Brussels each night, it would already
be evening. Then we would have to hurriedly get dressed
to go to a banquet, after which we also had to attend a big
reception until its finish.
When we first arrived in Belgium, His Majesty began to
catch a cold. If he had taken time to rest for a day or two,
his symptoms would not have become aggravated, but
instead, he had to attend many activities from morning
until evening. Besides, with traveling to different cities in
such cold rainy weather every day, the King had been
exposed to very cold drizzle all of this time. Thus, the King
had a fever on the second day of our visit. His personal doctor
prescribed a dose of medicine for him to take every four
hours. This made him feel sleepy and drowsy, but his
temperature did not abate. Nonetheless, he actively participated
in each event of the day. No one, except for our
entourage and myself, knew that he was sick...
Every day he had to shake hands with about 1,000 people.
I sympathized with him so much. If I had been as terribly
sick as His Majesty was then, I am not sure that I could
have endured it. When I saw his pale face and his eyes so
sleepy with fever, I felt so anxious. But it was beyond my
control. I knew that he would try the best that he could and
that he would not give in. I recalled a popular English
idiom, “As happy as a king.” At that moment I wanted to
laugh out loud sarcastically and bitterly.
It was very serious matter when a visiting head of state
becomes ill. One of my foreign friends once told me that
whether it could be helped or not, when a national leader
goes for an official visit to another country, he or she should
not become sick. Otherwise, they will be mercilessly criticised. Progressive
hotheads believed that a head of state
usually
has higher privileges than others have. Therefore,
he or she has no right to become sick as an ordinary
person does. He must be a superman: tireless, neat and
beautiful without blemish.
 |
| CLOCKWISE, FROM
FAR LEFT:
Their Majesties the King and Queen wave to a large crowd from a veranda. Her Majesty the Queen and Princess Alexandra of Kent arrive at Guildhall, London. A packed square filled with well-wishers. Their Majesties with the Pope at the Vatican. |
PROTESTS IN AUSTRALIA
Our trip to Australia was every bit as successful as our
trip to New Zealand had been, with both the government
and the people giving us a perfect welcome everywhere.
However, in this country, some incidents occurred which
made us feel not entirely happy.
The first day we arrived in Australia, we experienced a
bit of trouble. After a welcome ceremony at Canberra
Airport, the King and I got into the royal car. Sir Dallas
Brooks, Australia’s governor general, who was the Queen’s
representative, and Lady Brooks, his wife, followed us in a
second car. Suddenly, a very loud noise came from the
crowd waiting along the two sides of the road. I turned in
the same direction, startled to see the police and a group
of people trying in vain to catch one man. The man raised
his hands and unfolded a poster that I could see. On the
poster a statement was written, which [said], “We don’t
want to welcome the dictator of Thailand.”
That was the first time I had ever encountered people
calling the King a dictator or showing that they did not
want to welcome us. My heart felt as though it would stop.
After the poster had been unfolded and the car was about
to leave, I glanced back and saw that the police and the
people around him were very angry. They had snatched
the poster from that man and thrown it away.
My heart was still beating irregularly and my hands were
shaking at the thought of the writing on that poster. I whispered
and asked the King whether he had seen the poster
to chase the dictator away. The King replied that he had
seen it, while he turned to smile and wave his hand to the
people who had come to welcome us all the way to Government
House, which was our residence. He showed no
emotion at all. For me, I waved my hand and smiled all the
way as well, but my smile was somewhat woebegone.
I thought that the King was very calm, while I myself
was trembling with hurt and anger. I really pitied myself for
having taken the trouble to come to promote the relationship
between countries only to see a poster chasing us
away the minute we arrived. We had not asked to come;
they had invited us. The King counseled me to keep calm
and not express any feelings of regret or pain that their
government would notice. He said that, in fact, it was the
action of just one troublemaker, or a minority group. The
Australian government had done its best to honour us, and
the people had also welcomed us with very good friendship.
However, it may have been the wish of a small group
to annoy and anger us for the whole duration of our 18
days in Australia. The King emphasised that this incident was the act of a small
group and not the action of the people of the country...
 |
| ABOVE, LEFT TO RIGHT: Their Majesties with King Baudouin of Belgium. Their Majesties talk to Thais living in the US. UK Minister of Foreign Affairs Selwyn Lloyd welcomes Their Majesties to a dinner banquet at Lancaster Castle in their honour. |
A GREAT SPEAKER
Whenever a local city government hosted a welcome for
us, the King and I would sit on one side of the stage with
our entourage, while the host would sit on the other side.
The lights would be very bright, and the ceremony would
begin with the municipal councillor giving an impromptu
welcome speech to introduce the King to the audience by
telling them about his background and role in our country.
Sometimes he would talk about Thailand and sometimes
tease us in a friendly way, which would please the audience
and rouse a round of applause. On his visits to these
two countries, the King not only had to fulfill his role as our
Head of State, but also had to be a speaker who could
touch the hearts of the listeners, and with no advance notice,
either. Most of the prepared speeches did not match the
impromptu things the host would say on stage. As the people
of these two countries are proud of the role of eloquent
speakers, not to readers of prepared texts, he often had to
improvise on the spot, so that he could respond correctly
and spontaneously. Sometimes the King would tease the
audience in a humorous way.
After we returned to Thailand, those who had watched
the news of our visits to New Zealand and Australia came
to ask me why I had always sat with my head down, while
the King made his speeches, I told them that I had felt
anxious when there were thousands of pairs of eyes staring
at the King. If the audience approved of the King’s speech,
they would applaud him and laugh with admiration, but
what would happen if his speech did not live up to their
expectations? I almost trembled with anxiety about this.
However, everywhere we had gone up until then, people had
been happy with the King’s speeches. Beside paying close
attention, they had occasionally burst into laughter in the
middle of a speech, and the King would have to stop for a
while before continuing to speak. Sometimes the auditorium
would be filled with noisy applause and I would feel
relieved: My morale and self-confidence would return...
FACE TO FACE WITH STUDENTS
The third worrisome event occurred in Melbourne, the
capital of Victoria. It was the day when Melbourne University
was to grant an honorary Doctorate of Law to the King.
When we arrived at the university, we had to walk past a
group of men and women who were understood to have
been students of that university. The group remained
outside the auditorium, with its glass doors opening periodically,
so that they could see and hear what was going on
inside. This group of students was inappropriately dressed,
but some other groups looked all right. When I walked into
the auditorium after the King, some groups applauded us,
while some looked on indifferently, not smiling not sullen.
However other groups looked at us very strangely, and
there were some whispering and laughing with each other.
I could not help but look at them incredulously as I thought
that the way they were behaving was not appropriate. Their
attire showed that they were seeking attention of some sort
rather than being students who should be intellectuals.
When we entered the auditorium, it was almost full of
people. There were students, professors, Melbourne VIPs,
reporters, and others present. It had been arranged for
myself and our entourage to sit with the audience in the
front row. The King was on the stage with the rector, the
deans and the university council. After the ceremony had
commenced, the rector went to read the citation in honour
of the King before granting the degree.
Suddenly, I heard a loud heckling noise from some of
the “intellectuals”, who were outside. They were standing
in various inappropriate poses, some resting their feet on
trees, others standing with their legs apart with their hands
on their hips. Their heckling was loud enough to disturb
the Rector who was speaking. I suddenly felt angry and
almost lost my temper. I looked up on the stage and saw
that the professors and university council members looked
pale and were restless with embarrassment...
I glanced at our entourage and saw that they all sat
stiffly. When the rector had finished his citation, he granted
the degree to His Majesty. Then it was time for the King to
go to give his speech at the microphone in the middle of
the stage. Before anything happened, heckling could be
heard from the “intellectuals” outside again. I felt my hands
were cold and my heart beat strangely. I felt sorry for the
King, and I did not know what to do. I did not even dare to
look up at him for I was sorry for him and sympathized
with him. Finally, I did force myself to look up at him to
give him encouragement. But it was I who instead received
encouragement from the King, because as I looked at him
walk to the middle of the stage, his face was calm and still.
Just at that moment, all the audience applauded him loudly
as if to encourage him. As the applause died down, I looked
up on the stage again to see him raise the academic cap
that he wore with the gown, before turning and bowing
most beautifully towards the noisy group of people outside.
His face had a slight smile, his eyes a little sarcastic, but his
voice even and level, he said, “I wish to thank you all very
much for giving a warm and polite welcome to your official
guests.” After saying only that, he turned to speak to
the audience in the auditorium.
Then I wanted to laugh aloud with satisfaction because
the heckling suddenly stopped as if a switch had been turned
off. From then on, there was no more heckling. Everyone,
both outside and inside of the auditorium, listened quietly
and thoughtfully to the King’s speech. I felt that his speech
that day was excellent. It was an impromptu speech, made
without notes. He told the audience about the ancient
culture of Thailand. He explained that we had freedom,
our own language and alphabet which we had created for
our own use. We had made our own laws and administration.
We had given freedom to our people more than 700
years ago. At that moment, I was very amused because
after he had said … more than 700 years ago ... he acted as
if he had just thought of something ... [and] was a little startled,
and then bowed politely when he said..., “I’m sorry …
I forgot at that time there was no Australia yet….” Then he
 |
| CLOCKWISE, FROM RIGHT: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of England and His Majesty King Bhumibol travel by carriage from Victoria Railway Station to Buckingham Palace. Her Majesty the Queen receives a bouquet at the Thai Embassy in Germany. Their Majesties greet the ‘King of Rock 'n' Roll’, Elvis Presley. |
After the ceremony, the rector invited the King and myself to leave the auditorium and go to another room to enjoy some drinks and a small reception, so that the professors and guests could have an audience with the King. Everyone praised him for his speech. I pitied some professors who came spluttering excuses for the impolite noise. They said that the children had been quarreling among themselves: It had nothing to do with the ceremony. As a matter of fact, I did not blame anybody. The government and the university had given full honour to the King and myself, while some misbehaving students had embarrassed their professors, who had to go out of their way to call them children instead of students. It was probably because those students thought they had the freedom to express their opinions as they liked. They did not think about whether or not their opinions were reasonable or appropriate. They only thought that if they were students, then they must have freedom. So they used their freedom fully that day.
After the reception, when we went to the car, we had to walk past the same group of students. They were still waiting to see us, but their behaviour had completely changed. Some students looked embarrassed. They avoided looking us in the eyes, and there were no longer strange looks on their faces. However, some of them were sporty enough to smile at us, wave, and applaud us all the way to the waiting car...
NEW YORK, 1967
That night, a famous American businessman, who was the chairman of a famous newspaper and on the committee of the Metropolitan Museum, arranged a reception at the museum for us. Before we went to the reception, I learnt that the King would try to find a chance to express his opinions about preserving world peace. He told me that he would present views that some American might think to be minor issues but that are actually very harmful, therefore the American people need to be aware of them. If they were open-minded people, they would listen to him. That night many business leaders and journalists were present. After the King had finished his speech, the entire audience gave him a rousing round of applause. They were very pleased with his speech, in which there was an analogy, as follows:
Those who have the duty to report news or to bring about understand between peoples of different countries and classes should always be conscious that their jobs are important and highly honoured, as they are meant to have great responsibility in the joint creation of peace for the world. The dissemination of news without careful consideration or even by using simple words can destroy the work of people of goodwill who have strived with difficulty to create peace for long years. If they excuse themselves that the use of a few loose words is a trivial matter and people should not worry about it too much, this is just not correct. It is like just a little air bubble. If it gets into blood stream, it can split off the life of a whole man. A little cube of sweet sugar, if put in a gasoline tank, can ruin completely the good engine of a car...
That night, I could not sleep well. I confess it was because a member of the committee [of Williams University, where His Majesty the King would be presented with a doctorate degree] had whispered to me, “Tomorrow, even if something goes wrong, you should not be frightened. And please don’t think that we dishonour you. There might be distribution of leaflets or some students walkout during the [commencement] ceremony.”
It was usual for these events to occur in the United States at that time because students felt it was one’s right to protest. The committee member explained that it was university tradition to let students with high distinction write articles. The three best articles would receive an award and would be read to the audience by their writers. The students had sent their representative to the rector to inform him that one of those articles argued against the American government that had sent soldiers to South Vietnam. He said the article contended that it was useless to send people to die there, not that he was a coward, but that people were willing to die only for their own nation. He disagreed with sending people to die far away. When I learnt this matter, I could not sleep well...
The ceremony finished in a more orderly manner than I had expected. For the whole time that we sat there, all the Thai people who attended the ceremony were nervous as we did not know what would happen..
That night the rector personally invited us, along with some committee members, to dinner. I quietly asked one of the committee members, “I’d like to know how you manage things so well that there was no bad incident as expected.”
I felt that that committee member was rather annoyed. He said, “You know that in America, no one can stop people from expressing their opinions.” He himself was surprised that there was no reaction as expected, and therefore he had asked those students (many with long hair which made them look even more frightening) why they had not walked out of the ceremony when one of the leaders of a Southeast Asian country was being awarded a degree. The students said they had not intended to attack Thailand directly, but as Thailand had friendly relations with their government, and they were against their government’s policy, they had planned to walk out of the ceremony while the King was giving his speech. But they did not do so because they saw that the King had clapped his hands to honour three of them. They thought that the King was open-minded because he had listened to other people’s opinions, no matter whether or not he agreed with them. Therefore, they wanted to show that they were interested in the King’s opinions, too. That committee member also told me that everyone had liked the royal speech. It was evident when everyone gave him a standing ovation and clapped their hands for a long time.
When we came back from dinner, I asked the King. .. “Why did you applaud them? It wasn’t necessary. Their professors, their parents, and some of the audience didn’t clap their hands. And they looked so sullen, especially during the article that attacked the sending of soldiers to Vietnam.”
The King replied, “Didn’t you realise that those articles won prizes for language? They spoke well and used correct language. It was not a prize for policy, so they deserved a hand because they used language beautifully.”
We felt grateful to those committee members who had warned us in advance about the opinions of the students. This meant that the King could prepare his speech with some idea of what the students had in mind. His speech that day was amazing. Our foreign minister had also giving him a lot of help by suggesting to him to cite the lofty Dhamma of the Buddhist religion for foreigners to hear. The following is a summary of his speech:
Our world today is full of propaganda. Therefore, before we believe anything, we should first look closely at the reasons that underlie it. Even Lord Buddha taught people to use their consciousness and intelligence to study, seek, and consider whether His teachings were the truth that is believable rather than to believe just because someone had enacted it.
Thus, with such words, the long-haired ones did not dare to walk out, because walking out would have turned them into people who did not use their brains to consider things first.
 |
| BELOW, LEFT TO RIGHT: His Majesty the King gives a speech at a dinner banquet of the World Affairs Council. Their Majesties the King and Queen are welcomed by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh at Victoria Railway Station. Their Majesties visit the Canadian Red Cross Association. |