Washington, DC, firefighters lent a hand during preparations for a royal visit in 1951. Washington whirred with excitement before then-Princess Elizabeth and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, arrived. “Arrangements for the visit have been scrutinized down to the minutest detail,” the Boston Globe reported. Sprucing up the Capitol dome, the firefighters sprayed water from a balcony outside the Rotunda, as seen in this photograph. The royal tour zipped through the Supreme Court, Library of Congress, and the sparkling Capitol in only one hour.
