A Prince Charmed at the Fair by a Hong Kong Steam Roller

Trade posters from British Iindustries Fairs in the 1930s - 1932, 1934 and 1937

If you’ve read my memoir, The Hong Kong Letters, you’ll be familiar with my boss, Betty Church, the larger-than-life character who ran an advertising agency in Hong Kong.  I was 21, she was 64 and we had never met when I arrived in the Colony to start work in 1968 as her secretary.

Mrs Church wanted a lively young companion with a good ear to listen to her extraordinary stockpile of anecdotes.  Her energy and vitality were legendary, her opinions, blunt and her praise of Empire, absolute. Although initially, I was captivated, it did not end well!

Yet over time my grudging deference has changed to outright admiration – she was a truly remarkable woman, sharp, a savvy strategist and a crack manipulator. Always ahead of the pack, her hypnotic charm had the effect of a runaway steam-roller descending an alpine pass.

Models paraded this grand stairway at Olympia each year at the BIF for a fabulous show of British fashion.

Betty Church set sail each year for London and the British Industries Fair.  One of the best was in 1933 when King George V and his wife, Queen Mary, an enthusiastic supporter of the event, paused to applaud the huge Chinese lanterns outside the Hong Kong and Singapore pavillion. Intrigued, the Queen cast her eye over the stand where Betty had reproduced the elegant study of a wealthy Chinese gentleman - fine rosewood chairs and joss tables, silk rugs and porcelain, orchestrated in hues of scarlet, jade-green and gold.

All the exhibitors had strict instructions not to engage with the royal party. Not to speak, unless spoken too. Yet when Queen Mary complimented her on the warm colouring of her wonderful display, Betty Church could not help herself. If the King and Queen lingered at the stand, that was  good enough for the press.

Queen Mary visited the British Industries Fair every year and was a keen supporter of stands from the dominions, colonies and territories of the British Empire.

This is a picture of Betty in 1937. It is the first time I found a picture of her young and engaging and determined. Later she was so formidable I found it difficult to see how she had charmed them all. This picture says it all.

The Observer’s reporter wrote: “In one of the jewel boxes of the Exhibition is a bureau from Hong Kong and Singapore, at which the visitor will learn how a marvellous underdeveloped market is awaiting our manufacturers in China and Malaya.” Betty had made headlines.  

Next it was the turn of the British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, to drop by and congratulate Betty on her endeavours to develop British trade in China.

Finally, when the Prince of Wales made his visit to the exhibition, Betty’s pièce de résistance, worked exactly to plan. She had attired her two assistants in closely fitting silk cheongsams - the high necked, short-sleeved Manchu style dress with a slit skirt guaranteed to captivate a man’s attention.

It was not surprising HRH Prince Edward, lingered to speak to the lovely ladies. Neither should we be incredulous that Betty had a bottle of champagne on ice, just in case.  The Prince was delighted and happily accepted a glass of bubbles.

Betty roared with laughter fifty years later when she recounted how everyone was furious at her disgraceful behaviour at the Fair and how she was severely rapped over the knuckles. And I expect she roared with laughter at the time.

The Prince of Wales ascended the throne in January 1936 when George V died. The first public engagement for the new king was the British Industries Fair. Newsreel coverage of his visit to the Fair says his priority was to visit the Empire section.  I am sure Betty had the champagne ready although by that time Edward had his sights firmly set on his mistress, Mrs Wallace Simpson, an American divorcée and was probably more conscious of decorum in his new role. I am sure she would have told us if there had been a second round!

This is the 1939 stand, sadly I cannot find an image of the famous 1933 stand where Queen Mary stopped to stare and Betty toasted the Prince of Wales with champagne.

Betty spoke of another memorable Fair in 1939. That year she was selected as the only woman to broadcast for the BBC on a round-the-Empire hook-up to explore developing trade between the colonies.

No surprises really as she had single-handedly established herself as the virtuoso whiz on Far East trade. She rolled over politicians, taipans and industry VIPs with vim, vigour and hyperbole.