ABSTRACT
On Wednesday, October 15, 1924 Jelly put on a specially fine gold dress to go to the Queen’s Hall. The orchestra wore white ties. The goldfish and the fountain were sent downstairs. Royalty was coming. Royalty came, Queen Mary in a blue and silver gown with a soft blue feather collar and a flowery embroidered cloak of dark turquoise. Royalty was received by the Earl of Shaftesbury, who presented Robert Newman, manager of the Proms since 1895. Jelly’s shrewd eyes noticed that the future Queen at a children’s party years later beat everybody at ‘Hunt the Thimble’ because she watched the other players’ eyes. She also noticed, later still, that with Jelly there her mother tried to draw her into talk about music. As a rule Jelly played the Brahms in her own unconfoundable way, the first movement warmer than any other performance of it, and the last dancing ‘with reckless gaiety and brilliance’ into usually terrific applause.
