ROYAL HOUSEKEEPER FOR THIRTY YEARS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 144, 19 June 1926, Page 40

ROYAL HOUSEKEEPER FOR THIRTY YEARS.

■ MISS CLARK'S MEMOIRS. THE MEAN KAISER. Interesting stories of most of the present and late crowned heads of Europe were told by the late Miss Ann Clark, who has died at the age of 70 after almost Ufelong service with the Royal family. For 30 years Miss Clark acted as housekeeper to the present King and Queen, hut long before that she was in tbe service of Queen Victoria and other members of the Royal Family. The best proof Of Miss Clark's devoted attachment to her Royal mistress was the fact that though wealthy Americans eager for some of the reflected glory of the British Court made frequent liberal offers to induce her to enter their service, she rejected them all. Even after her retirement on pension she was approached by the agent of one American millionaire who wanted her to take service with him If only to serve as an attraction to his home because of tbe eagerness of what he called "the best families" In the United States to get into personal touch with English Royalty or to hear first-hand stories of how the Royal Household was run. To all these offers Miss Clark turned a deaf ear, much to the amazement of the Americans, who could not understand why the dollar appeal failed. Hated By Ex-Kaiser. Miss Clark had the distinction of being hated by the ex-Kaiser, who showed his dislike In every possible way. The reason was an incident of Wilbclm's childhood days, when Miss Clark, then a young serrant at Windsor, soundly boxed his ears as the sequel to a bullying incident in which the other Royal children were the victims of infantile Prussianlsm. Miss Clark regarded the ex-Kaiser as the meanest of alt the Royal persons coming under her notice, and said, shortly before her death, that she had known cases where the valet secretary of the head of the House of Hohenzollcrn used to make a point of leaving out as many servants a.s possible when it came to distributing largesse at the end of a visit. She regarded the ex-Kaiser as one of the fussiest of the Royal visitors. He would never settle down in his room without satisfying himself by personal examination that there were no unauthorised persons in hiding. He made a point of never being in the dark, and always had a. serrant within coll. An Awkward Encounter. The late Tsar was obsessed with tbe fear of Nihilist plotters, and went so far as to suggest that even when he was staying at Windsor or Buckingham Palace It was possible for bis enemies to reach bis room by means of secret passages and doors let into the walls. It was part of his routine to have the walls tapped for mystery doors, and the rooms were always searched for unwanted tlsltors. On one occasion the search revealed the presence of a terrified youth who looked as though he expected to be hanged on the spot. Nothing would convince the Tsar that this was not t dangerous conspirator, with designs on his life, but the fact is that the culprit was merely a new servant, who bad been anxious to See for himself tbe sleeping quarters of the great, had stolen in, and had been discovered before be could get away, despite the fact that he had hidden himself securely, as he thought. To allay the fears of the Royal visitor, the luckless servant was selit home tor the remainder et the visit. Empress' premonition. Another annoyance of the life of the Royal Housekeeper arose from the lumber 6f Americans Who tried to bribe her to allow therfl to enter the Servants' quarters ia order that they might see something of Royalty at close quarters. Once or twice she had definite offers of large sums If She would be a party to the introduction as Servants of American Royalty worshippers, but she only smiled at these offers. One of tbe tragic figures recalled by the Royal H6usekeeper was the Illfated Empress of Austria, who met her death by the hand of an assassin. Curiously enough, she had the idea that she would meet a violent death, and when last she left St. James*, whefe She Bad been On a brief visit, -he told MisS Clark She did Sot expect to return again. *'I am a doomed woman," she said. She died by the weapon of an assassin within a few Weeks of making that prediction: