ROYALTY AND THE WAR.

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

ROYALTY AND THE WAR.

QUEEN OF THE BELGIANS. The Belgian Royal JPamily have been living in an atmosphere of difficulty and danger during the last few weeks, says a writer in an English exchange, and the King and Queen, as everybody will readily understand, have been especially anxious about the safety of their children.

The Queen is relieved to have the young princes and the little princess safe on English soil. The Queen of the Belgians, who is a skilled nurse, is finding her knowledge of medicine of considerable value just now. On one occasion while the King and Queen and their children were travelling in France, the train suddenly came to a standstill at a small wayside station, and an official came along to ask if there was a doctor among the passengers. None appearing, Queen Elizabeth left the Royal saloon, and found that the engine-driver had seriously injured one of his hands. Fortunately the.Queen had with her a small "first-aid" case, and while the King bathed the injured hand, her Majesty prepared the necessary dressings and ointments and bandaged the man's wound.

The King's Donation. The King and Queen of the Belgians have always been very generous in their support of charitable institutions,

and there is one rather amusing story. told of a contribution made by King Albert to a deserving charity. Some years ago lie paid a private visit to a small town in the Liege district, and as he was about to enter the train that was to take him back to Brussels a deputation of railwaymen asked to be allowed to speak to him. Permission was given readily, and the men explained that they were getting up a fund to help a comrade.who had been permanently disabled on the railway. They hoped his Majesty would give a donation. "Certainly, my friends," King Albert exclaimed, cordially, at once putting his hand into his pocket. He drew it out again, however, with an air of perplexity, and tried another pocket. The deputation waited anxiously, and, in the end, after the King had desperately tried all his pockets, he smilingly produced the only coin he had in his possession, a live-centime piece, worth about a halfpenny in English money. Needless to say, a larger donation came later from the royal palace at Brussels.

Three Queens at Work. Queen Mary and Queen Alexandra have both been busy these last few weeks helping forward the organisation of Hed Oross work, and they have received much valuable help from Queen Amelia of Portugal. Queen Amelia at one time founded and supported a dispensary for the poor of Lisbon, and it was partly her interest in tills work that led her to take a course of study in medicine and nursing. Her late husband, King Carlos, once remarked that lie had no objection to her doing this sort of work, but he did draw the line at Her ■"experiments on himself. The King was exceedingly Stout, and Queen Amelia at one time tried to put him on a strict diet. He soon rebelled, however, and announced: "If it is to be a choice between dying and starving, I would really much rather choose the former!"