WITHOUT PREJUDICE

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 95, 17 January 1924, Page 6

WITHOUT PREJUDICE

NOTES AT RANDOM

(By

T.D.H.)

The only people the French have not blamed for their various misfortunes seem to be themselves. Lord Leverhulme should not he impatient with Australia for not populating its tropical north.—The matter is still “under consideration.” It might be interesting to know what His Majesty the King thinks about the current discussion in the London Press in the matter of a Labour Ministry filling the offices of State in the Royal Hou'ehold. There are fifteen officials in the Royal Household who change With each change of Administration. One is a lady, tlie Mistress of the Robes, who attends the Queen on State occasions, and on the male side the two chief functionaries are the Lord Steward, the first officer of the Court, wno has charge of everything below stairs, and the Lord Chamberlain, who has charge of everything above stairs.

When Queen Victoria ascended the throne the staffs of these various officials were all at sixes and sevens. Royalty is said to have shivered in the cold because the Lord Steward had failed to lay tho fire which the Lord Cham berlain was told to light; and it could scarcely see out of the palace windows for the dirt because the Office of Woods and Forests, which cleaned the outsides of the panes, had totally different ideas about the due times for window cleaning from the Lord High Steward, who cleaned the insides of tho windows. Queen Victoria straightened out her domestic arrangements very considerably, but from Mr. Lytton Strachey's biography seems in her early years to have had a hard row to l oe in making the palace staffs understand that they were there for their Sovereign’* convenience and not for their own.

There seems to be an assumption in the present discussion that attendance «in the Sovereign is almost a private prerogative of the Liberal and Conservative Parties as such, and rot simply as the parties in office for Hie time being. It may be remembered that King Edward maintained a - arm personal friendship with Mr. John Bums •nd Mr. Will Crooks, two intrepid Labour M.P.’s, and on one occasion sharply hade one aristocratic member of the ’•oyal entourage remember that the aristocracy had not the Royal Family in its pocket, and that “I am King or all tiie people. 1 ’ If King George is of like mind with b, : a father he may, of course, simply tell the Labour Party to carry on and take their turn at Court, just as the other political parties have taken their turn, when they ■have had enough votes to get into office. If the Labour Party didn’t want to go to Court that, of course, would be their affair.

An historic tussle about the appointments to the Royal Household occurred eighty-five years lack, and resulted in Sir Robert Peel losing office for a year or two. Sir Robert Peel was not a tactful person, but it was said to be the Duke oi Wellington, who was at the bottom of the trouble. Peel asked that he might have the right of appointment to the offices of the Royal Household, including those of the Queen’s Ladies of the Bedchamber. Queen Victoria was shocked at the request and declared it both contrary to usago and repugnant; to her feelings It seems that the great ladies of the Conservative Party desired a triupiph over the young Queen and had declared that when they composed her Court she would not be able to do as she pleased. The Queen refused to consider the matter, there was a big debate in both Houses, the Whigs supported the Queen, and at once returned to office, rnd Sir Robert Peel and his friends kicked their heels in Opposition for two years more.

The old-time duties of the Lord Steward are now mostly carried by a permanent official, the master of the household. Under the Lord Steward are several curious officers, including the ‘‘coroner of the verge,” who formerly had coronial jurisdiction over a radius of twelve miles from where the Sovereign was residing, but now exercises .it only within the precincts of Royal palaces. The Marshalsea -Court formerly had control over a similar area to prevent other lords from stealing the King’s servants. The Lord Chamberlain has as his special emblem a key, supposed to be the front door key of the palace. He arranges State ceremonies, and examines tho claims of those who desire to be presented at Court. Besides his purely Court duties, the Lord Chamberlain licenses theatres in London, Windsor, and Brighton, and is also licenser of plays, and on that head receives much criticism at times, although the actual work is done by a deputy known as the Examiner of Plays. In the Lord Chamberlain’s department arc the S'ergeantS-at-Arms in Parliament —and also the sivans on the Thames I

Other -Court officials in the Ministry are the Treasurer of the Royal Household, the Comptroller, the Master of the House—who looks after the stables and horses, pages, footmen, etc., but not apparently after the motor-cars and chauffeurs—the Captain of tho Geiitlemen-at-Arnis, and the Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard. Finally, it should be noted that the Lord Chamberlain is quite a different person from , the Lord Great Chamberlain. The latter is an hereditary office shaped in turn by Lord Ancastcr, Lord. Cholmondeley, and Lord Carrington, who all claimed it as their sole prerogative, but were left to cut it up between, them, taking it . reign by reign. The Lord Great- Chamberlain looks after the Houses of Parliament, and has his day out when Parliament is opened or the King crowned, on which, latter occasion he gets the King’s bed and “night robe” as part of his pay.. Similarly, the Lord High Steward is distinct from the Lord Steward. Appcintments to the office of Lord High Steward are now made only for special occasions such as a coronation or the trial of a peer by his peers, in which latter case the Lord Chancellor usually acts.—lt needs a learned to understand all the various things these great functionaries are supposed to do—and don’t do. Have you heard this one; A. Yorkshire motorist visiting th® United States, called upon Mr. Henry Ford, and after having been courteously shown over the factory by his host he inquired what was the shortest time in which Mr. Ford had ever built n car. “Four minutes fifteen and twofifth seconds” came the prompt reply. “Ah—that’s the old devil ahve got” —exclaimed the Yorkshirenian. . THE SPORTSWOMAN. Diana in her knickered tweeds Cut mannishly severe,. Through tangled coverts in the wood Pursued the dappled deer, In trim black habit, polished boots, And jaunty jockey cap, She alsc rode to hounds and chased Poor Reynard off the map. Now satin clad and. silver shod, Adorned with pearls and lace, Perfumed and powdered and marcelled. With tinted lips and face. And earrings long of gold and jade, Armed only with a fan, Beneath the city’s glittering lights Diana hunts a man i—Minna Irting.