Queen Elizabeth II is now en route home to her kingdom only a few hours after her husband, Prince Philip, broke the news to her of her father's death, according to a United Press dispatch.
The 25-year-old queen broke down in tears, but regained her composure "early tonight on the long flight to London.
The royal couple left the hunting lodge where they had been staying and drove eight miles to a small airport near Nunyuki. They flew from there to Entebbe in Uganda, to board the British Overseas Airways craft, the same plane that had flown her to Africa. The airplane would now take her home.
The plane landed at Entebbe at 9:10 p.m., local time. The news of "her arrival was kept from the local populace to spare the new Queen a further ordeal."
The departure from Entebbe was delayed two hours due to thunderstorms. At 11:47 p.m., the plane finally took off bound for the Royal Air Force base at El Adem in Libya.
At El Adem and Malta, the Royal Air Force "had planes standing by to escort the Queen'splane over the Meditterranean. Queen Elizabeth II is expected to arrive in London tomorrow at 4:30 p.m., Greenwich time.
Elizabeth first learned of her father's death at 2.p.m., local time. A local newspaper, the African Standard, telephoned the Princess' "staff at the lodge, about eighty miles from Nairobi." The news was withheld from Elizabeth until a telephone call could be placed to London. As the call was being placed, the lodge received a call from London, which confirmed the news.
The news was broken to the Duke of Edinburgh, who then "told his wife that she was the new Queen." Elizabeth broke down in "tears," but, later, as a member of her staff said: "She took it like a Queen."
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