Ghana: The Queen's Visit

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In the tropical heat, the massed marchers, representing 39 Ghanaian organizations, wilted by the score; stretcher-bearers darted back and forth between the ranks lugging out casualties. The show was stolen by the antics of hundreds of marching market mammies, clad in colorful, wraparound calico dresses and gaily colored turbans. As they began to step out, the band switched from Sousa marches to jazzy, Ghanaian High Life numbers. Swinging their enormous hips in rhythm to the music, the mammies pranced, jigged and jived by the broadly smiling Queen while Prince Philip bent double and slapped his knee in laughter.

At a huge state dinner that evening at Accra's Ambassador Hotel, Nkrumah was effusive as he mentioned Ghana's regard for the Queen, but he pointedly failed to say that the same regard extended to Britain as a nation. "The wind of change blowing through Africa has become a hurricane." said Osagyefo. "Whatever else is blown into the limbo of history, the personal regard and affection which we have for Your Majesty will remain unaffected." Ignoring leftist advisers, who want him to leave the Commonwealth, Nkrumah lifted his glass to toast the Queen as head of the Commonwealth, and the Commonwealth itself.

In her carefully drafted reply, the Queen went out of her way to assure Nkrumah that differences of opinion do not mean that anyone must leave the Commonwealth. "Many people have said many things about this Commonwealth of ours." she said. "We know it is a group of equals; a family of like-minded peoples, whatever their differences of religion, political systems, circumstances, and races. We know that in this family group, no member loses one jot of its own sovereignty or individuality."

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