ROYAL HOSPITAL TOUR.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 255, 1 December 1914, Page 4

ROYAL HOSPITAL TOUR.

KING AND QUEEN VISIT WOUNDED AT WANDSWORTH.

King George and Queen Mary paid a visit recently to the 3rd London General Hospital, at Wandsworth Common, to see the wounded* soldiers under treatment there. The King wore the khaki undress uniform of a field-marshal.

The first thing that appealed to the King and Queen was the situation of the hospital and its suitability for the treatment of men fresh from the battlefield. The patients are isolated from the public, the grounds are extensive, the air is of the purest, and the hygienic equipment of the hospital is of the most up-to-date character.

Many of the patients, in hospital blue, were scattered about the grounds, and some showed preference for the fenced portions and the banks, which caused the ,King to remark that they could not get away from their trenches and entanglements even when no. longer at the seat of war. Some of these outdoor patients shouldered crutches and walking-sticks rifle fashion on seeing the King and Queen, while others came stiffly to the '' salute.'' Pathetic figures some of them were with slung arms and maimed feet or legs, but all alike seemed cheerful and happy. Within the hospital their Majesties visited every ward and every patient in each ward. They adopted their favourite plan of taking one side of a ward each

and then crossing over and changing sides. Thus every patient was able to get a word of comfort and cheer or some sympathetic question from each of the Royal visitors.

When about to leave their Majesties expressed their keen satisfaction with all that was being done by the hospital for the comfort and healing of the soldiers from the front.