Did You Know That Canada's Second Lady Is a Working Girl?!

On their previous visit to Canada, Queen Elizabeth and her husband the Duke of Edinburgh could not fail to meet an English girl of eighteen who works as a typist from nine in the morning until five, and who carries in her ordinary handbag her daily lunch of sandwiches on her way to work and back again by streetcar. This is Canada's second lady, Rose Maureen Alexander, daughter of the Governor-General of Canada. Despite her father's position, she has preferred supporting herself to living as the pampered girl of diplomatic society.

Her weekly wage remained, until last year, six pounds. Hers is a simple post in an insurance company in Ottawa, facing the Parliament where her father delivers the Speech from the Throne on behalf of the King.

Rose does not catch the eye of the streetcar passengers each evening on her way home, nor does she stand out from them until she alights in front of "Rideau Hall," Viscount Alexander's official residence. She walks alone the whole length of the winding road — an attractive girl with chestnut hair, large hazel eyes, and a slender figure, usually hatless and always in a hurry. She has scarcely reached the door before her dog, which guards the outer gate, springs up to welcome her.

Her latest traditional party was truly splendid. It gathered seven hundred guests, most of them the sons and daughters of Canadian and foreign diplomats. But Rose did not forget to invite her colleagues from the office, and she encouraged them to bring along whatever young people they wished.

That does not mean, however, that the Governor's daughter has turned Canadian after living there four years: her accent still bears an English stamp, and her colleagues consider her somewhat shy. She is no better at the kinds of dancing that Englishwomen are not good at. But, like her father, she loves the rhythmic dance famous in Canada, and the two take part in weekly parties in the special costumes, and enjoy them. Apart from that, she is quiet and sedate; her hobbies are stamp collecting, reading, sewing, and knitting. She spent three years at school in Canada before going to England, where she took her intermediate certificate. She returned to Canada a year later and insisted on taking a course in business, and then on looking for work. This set her parents before several obstacles, since they are official envoys of Britain, while their daughter wishes to be treated as one of the people. Had Rose chosen to remain at the palace, the Canadians would not have held it against her, for she is well loved, and her father's official calling requires the giving of many parties to which she would have to devote her attention. But the Canadians' admiration for her only grew when she chose to work, and by this

she cleared from their minds many an illusion about the British and their aristocracy.

No one helped her to find work; rather, she put her name on the list of job-seekers at the commercial secondary school, and before long she had obtained the position she asked for, once they found in her a girl serious about her work and capable of shouldering responsibilities. But some of her employer's fears soon came true: the office filled up with newspapermen and prying photographers, which held up the work. Whereupon her father imposed his censorship on his daughter's statements and allowed her to give them only at "Rideau Hall," despite his friendship with the men of the press — and with that, the news traffic came to a stop.

And here is the Governor-General's daughter, whom the people of Ottawa have grown used to seeing on her way to work in simple clothes bought out of her own salary. Her chief says: "We never call her anything but plain Rose, and we treat her exactly like her colleagues, for all her intelligence and her perseverance at work. She never frets or grumbles when the work piles up and the hours are extended; we always see her with that radiant smile on her lips, which never leaves her."

Rose always tries to make her colleagues feel that she is their equal in rank: she makes the tea when her turn comes round and washes the cups and dishes, even on Canada's harshest winter days; and when her father would prefer her to use their comfortable car, she insists on riding the streetcar, where she chats with such of the employees and clerks as she knows. At lunchtime she eats sandwiches at the office with her colleagues, rather than eating at a restaurant. Her father is beloved in Canada, for he is always kind and cheerful without losing his standing as representative of the British Kingdom. And Rose helps him to keep the standing of the Crown high.