Rebuffing Royals? Afrikaners and the Royal Visit to South Africa in 1947

ABSTRACT

This article traces the responses of Afrikaners to the symbolism and political purposes of the 1947 royal visit to Southern Africa, the first post-war royal tour and the first visit of a reigning sovereign to the Union of South Africa. Taking place in the aftermath of a war that had caused bitter political divisions within Afrikaner ranks and stimulated radical populist nationalism, a royal tour intended to express the crown's gratitude for South Africa's participation in that war was bound to be contentious. Drawing on press accounts, biographies, autobiographies and archival sources, this article argues that the layered reactions of Afrikaners demonstrate that, even on the eve of the National Party's electoral victory on a republican and apartheid platform, attitudes towards monarchy and the British connection were more fluid and ambiguous than either contemporary propaganda or recent accounts have allowed. The diverse meanings attributed to this iconic royal tour reveal a process of intense contestation and reflection about South Africa's place in an empire that was in the throes of post-war redefinition and transformation, and confirm recent characterisations of the 1940s as one of manifold possibilities such that outcomes, like the electoral victory of the National Party in the following year, was far from predetermined.

KEYWORDS:

• Royal visit
• South Africa
• Jan Smuts
• Afrikaners
• nationalists
• King George VI
• South Africanism

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for her gracious permission to quote from the Royal Archives, Windsor. Comments from the anonymous referees are gratefully acknowledged and we thank Lindie Koorts and Elsabe Brink for their scholarly generosity, and Gustav Hendrich for research assistance.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. ‘Vaarwel en Totsiens’, Die Suiderstem, 24 April 1947, All translations by the authors.

2. Aside from royal biographies, aspects of the tour have been addressed in Aronson, Royal Ambassadors; Douglas-Home, Evelyn Baring; Morrah, Royal Family; Haasbroek, ‘Die Britse Koningsbesoek’; Hyam and Henshaw, Lion and the Springbok; Sapire, ‘African Loyalism’; Connelly, ‘HMS Vanguard’; Murphy, Monarchy and the End of Empire; Lambert, ‘“Welcome Home”’.

3. Rhodes-James, Spirit Undaunted, 296; Pimlott, The Queen, 119; Adamson, The Last Empire, 111.

4. Douglas-Home, Evelyn Baring, 151.

5. Sir Shuldham Redfern, ‘Dominions and King’, The Spectator, 18 April 1946.

6. Cannadine, Ornamentalism; Ranger, ‘Making Northern Rhodesia Imperial’; Kaul, ‘Monarchical Display’, 473.

7. ‘Racialism a Passing Phase: Lord Buxton on Royal Tour’, Natal Mercury, 23 May 1925; Lambert, ‘United South African Nation’, 128–52.

8. Frew, Prince George’s African Tour, 2–3. It was precisely the effects of devolution in conferring upon the dominions equality of status with Britain that enhanced the symbolic power of the crown as a binding force in the empire. Satisfied with the new constitutional arrangements, the nationalist prime minister J. B. M. Hertzog, who played so prominent a role in redefining dominion status, was at ease in welcoming both Prince Edward and Prince George to South Africa in the interwar years. The tensions and discontents that came to the surface during the former tour are more fully explored in a forthcoming article by Hilary Sapire.

9. Sapire, ‘African Loyalism’.

10. Garson, ‘Smuts’; Dubow, Apartheid, 1–2.

11. Dubow, ‘Scientism, Social Research’; Lambert, ‘South African British?’; Sandon, ‘African Mirror’; Foster, Washed with Sun, 239; Cardo, ‘“Fighting a Worse Imperialism”’.

12. Morrah, ‘Monarchy in the Commonwealth’, 499.

13. Ziegler, George VI, 72–73.

14. Wheeler-Bennett, George VI, 685.

15. Williamson, ‘Monarchy’, 245.

16. Hyam and Henshaw, Lion and the Springbok, 278.

17. High Commissioner to Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, received 23 May1947, 371/65575, Foreign Office, The National Archives, Kew (hereafter TNA).

18. Acting Secretary to the Prime Minister and for External Affairs to the Office of the Prime Minister and Department of External Affairs, 29 May1946, 222 78/253, Governor General, National Archives Pretoria (hereafter NA).

19. ‘“South Africa”: The Royal Visit’, The Round Table, 1947, 37, 147, 297–302; E. Brookes, ‘Reflections on the Royal Visit’, African World, June 1947, 17.

20. Bradford, Elizabeth, 18; Bradford, The Dutiful King, 516–17; Pimlott, The Queen, 111; Rhodes James, Spirit Undaunted, 294–96.

21. David Pickthall, dir.The Queen in South Africa. BBC, screened on 27 March 1995. Accessed 18 February 2018. https://www.youtube.com.watch?v=9tLS1FobUTI.

22. Welsh, Rise and Fall, 24–25; Witz, Apartheid’s Festival, 94.

23. Dubow and Jeeves, South Africa in the 1940s.

24. Lowry, ‘Crown, Empire Loyalism’.

25. ‘South African Letter: Royal Visits’, Times of India, 28 June 1925; ‘South African Parties: The Malanite Creed’, The Times, 8 Dec.1934.

26. Debatte van die Volksraad, 21 March 1946, para. 4085, All translations by the authors.

27. Ibid., para. 4118, All translations by the authors.

28. ‘Royal Family Leaving London Today’, The Times, 31 Jan. 1947.

29. Botha to Malan, 3 March 1947, 1/1/2280, National Party Collection, Institute for Contemporary History, University of the Free State.

30. Reports by Captain G. H. Ribbink, 21 Feb. 1947, 17.12, United Party Archives, University of South Africa.

31. ‘Present and Absence’, Pretoria News, 11 March 1947.

32. Strijdom to Verwoerd, 1 March 1947;Verwoerd to Strijdom, 4 March 1947, PV 93, 1/56/1, H. F. Verwoerd Collection, Institute of Contemporary History. See also Prinsloo, ‘H. F. Verwoerd se Vriendskap’, 230–39. Although Die Transvaler did not cover the events of the tour itself, some critical articles were covered in the preceding month, lambasting, for example, the expectation that Afrikaner boys should serve in the royal guard of honour, the government’s evasiveness about the cost of the tour and British ignorance and stereotyped conceptions of Afrikaners. For example, ‘Nie Sodanig Subtiel Nie’, Transvaler, 30 Jan. 1947.

33. ‘Press Reactions’, PS/PSO/GV1/PS /VISCOM/08100/68/06, The Royal Archives, Windsor (hereafter RA).

34. High Commissioner, Cape Town, to Secretary of State for the Dominions, 10 March1947, PS/PSO/GV1/PS/VISCOM/08100/68/04, RA.

35. ‘Nationalist Reaction to Royal Visit in Orange Free State’, The Friend, 17 March 1947; Mervis, Fourth Estate, 273.

36. Debatte van die Volksraad, 17 March 1947, para. 1226–27, All translations by the authors.

37. Quoted in Smuts, Jan Christiaan Smuts, 501.

38. Die Koning! Is Hy Welkom?, 2, 6, 24, D. F. Malan Collection, Stellenbosch University; E. Roux, ‘The King and the OB’, Trek, xi, 14, 10 Jan.1947.

39. ‘South Africa Endorses General Smuts’ Policy’, The Friend, 27 Jan.1947.

40. ‘Die Koningsbesoek’, Die Volksblad, 13 Jan. 1947.

41. ‘South Africa Endorses General Smuts’ Policy’, The Friend, 27 Jan. 1947.

42. Giliomee, Afrikaners, 445; Koorts, D. F. Malan, 373; Grundlingh, ‘King’s Afrikaners’.

43. Baring to Addison, 19 Feb. 1947, 119/1429, Dominion Office (hereafter DO), TNA.

44. Grundlingh and Sapire, ‘Feverish Festival’.

45. Coetzee, Die Afrikaner, 38.

46. Die Koning! Is Hy welkom?, 6, D. F. Malan collection, Stellenbosch University.

47. ‘The King to Meet Oudstryders’, Rand Daily Mail, 29 March 1947.

48. ‘Gemoedelikheid by Oudstryders’, Die Vaderland, 31 March 1947; ‘Model Trek Wagon to Royal Family’, Rand Daily Mail, 31 March 1947.

49. ‘The King Chats to Oud-stryders’, Rand Daily Mail, 27 March 1947; ‘Polly’ to Smuts, 25 March 1947, MEM PS 2322/46, NA.

50. Haasbroek, ‘Die Britse Koningsbesoek’, 253–54.

51. Truter, Tibbie: Rachel Isabella Steyn, 242, All translations by the authors.

52. ‘“Suikerbossie” was Choice of the King’, Pretoria News, 2 April 1947; ‘Pretoria’s Crowded Week’, Pretoria News, 8 April 1947; ‘Koningsgesin Waardeer Afrikaans’, Suiderstem, 28 April 1947; ‘Vorstegesin se Belangstelling in Afrikaanse Volksliedere’, Suiderstem, 25 April 1947; Secretary Administrators’ Committee for the Royal Visit to Secretary to the Prime Minister, 23 Sept. 1946, BTS 24 81 22/2/14/29 (Buitelandse Sake), NA.

53. ‘Die Koningsbesoek’, Die Huisgenoot, 23 May 1947, All translations by the authors.

54. ‘Royal Welcome in the Free State’, The Times, 17 March 1947.

55. ‘Ossewa Brandwag General and Royal Visit’, Friend, 21 Feb. 1947.

56. ‘Die Koningsbesoek’, Die Huisgenoot, 23 May 1947.

57. ‘Die Koningsbesoek’, Die Huisgenoot, 23 May 1947; ‘Koninklike Egpaar Knip Vere’, Die Vaderland, 25 Feb. 1947.

58. Interview with Ms S. Human, daughter of the farmer, Mr C. Meyer, 1 Oct. 2010.

59. ‘Royal Family Attend Service in Dutch Reformed Church’, Rand Daily Mail, 31 March 1947.

60. ‘Drive Through Cheering Crowds in Bloemfontein’, Rand Daily Mail, 8 March 1947.

61. ‘Die Koning’, Die Vaderland , 17 Feb. 1947; ‘Kongingsbesoek’, Die Vaderland, 24 April 1947; ‘Reëlings vir Koningsbesoek aan Stellenbosch’, Die Suiderstem, 17 Feb. 1947; ‘Nasionale Afrikanerdom Behou Waardigheid by Koningsbesoek’, Die Kruithoring, 7 May 1947.

62. ‘Ex-internee Pretoria Mayor Will be Host’, Rand Daily Mail, 31 Jan. 1947.

63. Die Koning! Is Hy welkom?, 8, D. F. Malan collection, Stellenbosch University..

64. ‘Nasionale Afrikanerdom Behou Waardigheid by Koningsbesoek’, Die Kruithoring, 7 May 1947.

65. ‘Welcome!’, Pretoria News, 17 Feb. 1947.

66. Lascelles to ‘Wool’, in Hart Davis, ed., King’s Counsellor, 401; ‘Royal Welcome in Free State’, The Times, 17 March, 1947; ‘Op Toer Met die Koning’, Naweek, 13 March 1947.

67. ‘Royal Entry into Johannesburg has Deeper Meaning’, Rand Daily Mail, 4 April 1947.

68. Haasbroek, DieBritse Koningsbesoek, 255; Schoeman, Bloemfontein, 304.

69. ‘Koning Verwelkom in Pretoria’, Die Vaderland, 29 March 1947, All translations by the authors.

70. Strijdom to Verwoerd, 3 March 1947, PV 93/1/56/1, Institute of Contemporary History.

71. ‘Ryksbande’, Kruithoring, 7 May 1947.

72. ‘Ons Skryf Ook Maar Iets’, Kruithoring, 26 Feb.1947, All translations by the authors.

73. Ibid.

74. ‘Koninklike Besoek Lei tot Baie Staaltjies’, Die Volksblad, 21 April 2005; ‘Op Toer Met Die Koning’, Naweek, 13 March 1947.

75. ‘Fine Welcome for King in Cape Country Districts’, Rand Daily Mail, 21 Feb.1947; see also, ‘Die Koning Op Stellensbosch’, Die Burger, 21 Feb. 1947.

76. ‘Ons Skryf Maar Ook Iets’, Kruithoring, 26 Feb.1947, emphasis in original, All translations by the authors.

77. Shawcross, Queen Elizabeth, 614–15.

78. Longford, Queen Mother.

79. A. Lascelles to J. Lascelles, in Hart Davis, ed., King’s Counsellor, 403.

80. The Royal Tour to South Africa: Report of Proceedings of H.M.S. ‘Vanguard’ for period from 31st January, 1947 to 11th May, 1947, 1/20593, Admiralty (hereafter ADM), TNA.

81. Bridson, Prospero and Ariel, ch. 6.

82. Private Secretary to the King to High Commissioner, 27 Feb. 1947, GRE 1/9/1, Baring Papers, University of Durham Library. Lascelles was also struck by the extent of anti-Semitism he came across in South Africa.

83. Hancock, Smuts, 495.

84. ‘More Gentleness Through Royal Visit, Says Smuts’, Rand Daily Mail, 24 April 1947.

85. ‘General Smuts Praises Queen’s Part in South African Tour’, Pretoria News, 22 April 1947.

86. Smuts to King George VI, 1 June1947, PSO/GVl/PS/VISCOM/08100/68/65A, RA.

87. Hancock, Smuts, 495.

88. ‘Africans Analyse Visit by Royalty’, New York Times, 28 April 1947.

89. Hofmeyr to Underhill, 14 May1947, J. H. Hofmeyr papers, Historical Manuscripts, University of the Witwatersrand. N. L. Waddy argues that the British government was equally complacent, Waddy, ‘The Fork in the Road’, 80–81.

90. Meiring, Jan Smuts, 183.

91. O. A. Oosthuisen diary, 9 March 1947, United Party Archives, University of South Africa.

92. Grundlingh, ‘Afrikaner Nationalism and White Politics’.

93. Paton, Hofmeyr, 451.

94. ‘Die Koning se Dank’, Suiderstem, 18 Feb. 1947; ‘’n Gulde Geleentheid’, Die Suiderstem, 21 Feb. 1947.

95. Koorts, D. F. Malan, 383.

96. ‘King’s Visit to South Africa’, The Times, 1 Feb. 1952.

97. Baring to Addison, 16 May1947, PS/GVl/PS 08100/68/09, RA.

98. Malan to Geyer, 13 Nov. 1951, A 1890, A. L. Geyer Collection, Cape Archive Depot. Our thanks to Lindie Koorts for sharing her research with us.

99. Witz, Apartheid’s Festival, 97.

100. Dubow, Apartheid, 4; Geldenhuys, ‘The Head of Government’, 251; Murphy, Monarchy and the End of Empire, 45.

101. Royal Family in South Africa (1947), Pathe films, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WO3y27Nnhl, accessed 9 April 2015.

102. The Royal Tour of South Africa:Report of Proceedings of HMS ‘Vanguard’ for period from 31st January 1947 to 11th May, 1947, 1/20593, ADM, TNA.

103. ‘The King’s Visit to Natal’, The Times, 11 Jan. 1952.

104. ‘Royal Visit to Natal: Mr Fenner Brockway’s Criticism’, The Times, 9 Jan. 1952.

105. ‘King’s Visit to South Africa’, The Times, 1 Feb. 1952.

106. Gurney, ‘“A Great Cause”’; Lissoni, ‘South African Liberation Movements’, ch. 1.

107. R. Meyer (grandson of C. J. Meyer), email to A. Grundlingh, 18 Feb. 2015.

108. ‘Nationalists and Ossewa Brandwag: Dr Van Rensburg Urges Unity’, The Friend, 24 March 1947.

109. ‘Press Reactions’,PS/PSO/GVl/PS/VISCOM/08100/68/06, RA.

110. ‘Union is Making Up its Mind on Colour: Widespread Suggestions of Rapprochement’, The Friend, 6 Jan. 1947.

111. ‘Afrikaans Press and the Royal Visit’, The Friend, 24 Feb. 1947.

112. Baring to Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, 21 May1947, 119/1431, DO, TNA.

113. ‘Nationalists and the King’, The Times Weekly Newspaper for Uitenhage and the Eastern Province Districts, 19 March 1947.

114. ‘Ex Internee Pretoria will be Mayoral Host’, Sunday Times 15 Dec. 1946.

115. De Klerk, Die Laaste Trek, 42.

116. Joubert, Wonderlike Geweld, 382. Thanks to Elsabe Brink for this reference.

117. ‘Respite for South Africa: A Royal Wedding’, New York Times, 23 July 1986.

118. ‘Mandela Ends Triumphant Visit to Britain’, New York Times, 13 July 1996.