97499 St.S.
NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
Registry No.
+
Top Secret. Secret.
DRAFT s/o letter
To:-
Sir David Trench, K.C.M.G.,
M.C.,
Government House,
Type 1 +
From
Confidential,
Restricted. Unclassified. Brsonal
VICTORIA,
Hong Kong.
For signature by Sir Saville Gamer.
(E/3)
Telephone No. & Ext.
Department
I greatly regret that you have not received a
reply to your letter of the 6th September about the
possibility of Her Majesty The Queen visiting Hong Kong
in 1968. As you will have gathered from later exchanges
with Arthur Galsworthy, your original letter has been
mislaid here.
2.
Plans for royal visits in 1968 are still in a
very fluid state. Once again we are considering the
question of a visit to South East Asia (just as we were
in 1964 when the possibility of a visit to Hong Kong
was last considered). It is not easy to see, even now,
what the chances might be for including a visit to
Hong Kong in the programme for the letter half of 1968,
assuming of course that it is not ruled out on other
grounds.
3.
We have a sought Foreign Office views on
your proposal and have asked them to consider also the
alternative suggestion of a visit by Prince Charles
mentioned in your letter of 5th January to Arthur
Galsworthy.
The Foreign Office is in turn consulting
Hopson in Peking. When their views are received we will
consider putting the matter to the Royal Visits
Committee.
4.
After informal discussions with the Foreign
Office, our preliminary conclusion about a visit by
The Queen is that the distinction you draw between a
visit for a particular purpose and a visit which might
be regarded as in the nature of a "display of sovereignty"
/is
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.