Tito’s Death and His Political Legacy, 1980 437
come to the evening receptions in long dresses. In addition, “At no time are
sports wear or sandals allowed.”^21 The care taken to dress properly became
grotesque in subsequent years: when Tito visited a foreign country, the protocol
department procured a set of new clothes for the members of the delegation
in attendance and up to twenty different dresses for their wives, each tailored
in Paris.^22
Tito loved medals and was delighted by his honorary degrees and member-
ships in the various academies of science and arts.^23 He possessed thirteen gold
swords, bestowed upon him on various occasions by friendly governments, a
dozen gold and diamond collars of different orders, sixteen Yugoslav and ninety-
nine foreign decorations, some of them prestigious, such as the Knight Grand
Cross of the Order of the Bath, bestowed upon him by Queen Elizabeth II in
1972, or the Danish Order of the Elephant, received in 1974. Not to mention the
socialist honors: the Order of Lenin (Soviet Union, 1972) or the Hero of the
Republic of North Korea—but also exotic ones, such as the Grand Collar of the
Queen of Sheba (Ethiopia, 1952), the Collar of the National Order of the Aztec
Eagle (Mexico, 1963), the Grand Cordon of the Supreme Order of the Chrysan-
themum ( Japan, 1968), or the Grand Cross of the Order of Mono (Togo, 1976).
The absurdity came to a head when the Serb Socialist Alliance of Working Peo-
ple proposed shortly before his death that he should be awarded, for the fourth
time, the title of “People’s Hero,” after having emerged successfully from his
ampu tation surgery. The initiative was dropped when his condition worsened.^24
Tito felt at ease among royals. He loved to tell of how Queen Frederica
of Greece, niece of the last kaiser, assured him during a visit to Brioni that she
would surely have joined the party had she been born in Yugoslavia. Her gift,
a couple of white poodles that he held dear, started a canine dynasty at the
court.^25 For his eightieth birthday, the British ambassador suggested that the
queen gift him with some silver object. He advised that “local knowledge and
taste are such that late Victorian would be more appropriate than earlier and
more distinguished.”^26 Instead of silver or Chivas Regal whiskey, as was also
suggested, the monarch celebrated Tito’s jubilee with an official visit to Yugo-
slavia “while the Marshal was still in the saddle.” It was her first journey to a
socialist country.^27 After having hosted Princess Margaret and the queen of the
Netherlands, Tito’s court knew well how to handle the scions of the old Euro-
pean dynasties. Elizabeth II was so enthusiastic about all the attention she was
given in October 1972, just as Tito was demolishing the Serb liberal leadership,
that on her return she sent him a silver cup, along with a flattering appraisal.
Allegedly she said: “If this man is a mechanic, I am not the Queen of England.”
Tito reached the height of his social status when he invited Her Majesty to
waltz during a soirée at Brioni.^28