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A ROYAL INVITATION TO THE UNITED STATES:

Canada's Governor General, Lord Tweedsmuir (better known as John Buchan, the author of The Thirty – nine Steps) and Canada's Prime Minister William Mackenzie King conjured the notion of a Canadian royal tour emphasizing the importance of the 1931 Statute of Westminster recognizing Canada as a self – governing dominion with Britain's king as their uniquely Canadian monarch. On August 18, 1938 at the dedication of the International Bridge at the Thousand Islands, Mackenzie King informed his friend FDR that, indeed, the king and queen would be visiting the dominion in the coming year.

Roosevelt immediately seized the opportunity and dispatched a brief note to Joseph Kennedy, United States' ambassador to Great Britain: "Dear Joe … enclosed is a strictly personal letter to the King. Will you be good enough to see that it is delivered to him in person?" FDR's friendly letter suggested the royal couple include a visit to the United States in their Canadian plans to enhance Anglo – American relations. He also suggested a layover at Hyde Park as a respite from the proposed grueling schedule of Canadian touring.

The king delayed a response as the letter arrived during the Czechoslovakian crisis. Finally on November 8 amidst the pageantry of the state opening of Parliament, the King announced his happiness in accepting Roosevelt's invitation and warmly welcomed this practical expression of good feeling between the two countries.

A ROYAL INVITATION TO THE "WORLD OF TOMORROW":

In his initial letters to King George VI and Queen, FDR suggested a stopover in New York City before traveling to Hyde Park. However, a visit to The Big Apple in 1939 necessitated a trip to its world's fair in Flushing Meadows. Initially Buckingham Palace decried the exposition as rather vulgarized by over – advisement, the fair's symbols, the Trylon and Persiphere, seemingly appeared in every advertisement and souvenir shop in the United States. But the fair's self – proclaimed "World of Tomorrow" proved irresistible, even to the staid British, who constructed one of the largest pavilions in the international zone, although British ambassador Sir Ronald Lindsey opposed any member of the royal family's participation in the pavilion's dedication as politically inadvisable.

The day following the King's announcement in London, Grover Whalen issued an invitation that the fair would be signally honored by a visit from the young couple. Whalen promptly reported an unofficial assurance the invitation would receive sympathetic consideration. Within two weeks, Eleanor Roosevelt hinted that George and Elizabeth would indeed include the fair in their itinerary and Ambassador Lindsey confirmed such in late February.

However, the world's fair visit still faced a few hurdles. Jonathan Grimshaw, a London Times reporter, speculated that the spring's European crisis made the venture only a 50 – 50 proposition. John Moore, a member of the New York State Labor Relations Board labeled the visit merely a publicity stunt for the fair. And, while the Palace still feared a visit to the exposition might change the complexion of the royal tour from an official to a commercial venture, the city's former garbage dump in Queens became the ultimate destination for the royal couple, like thousands of other foreign visitors that year.