The Evening Star MONDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1936. THE ROYAL CRISIS.

Evening Star, Issue 22515, 7 December 1936, Page 8

The Evening Star MONDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1936. THE ROYAL CRISIS.

From whatever angle it is viewed, except that of past tolerance of worse anomalies, the problem raised by the King’s marriage desire is unsatisfactory. Mr Baldwin’s statement made at the week-end adjournment of the House of Commons narrows tho issue, but does not make it less disturbing. The King, under the Constitution, might marry any lady, and in default of special legislation which the present Ministry will not bring forward and of which the dominions also are represented as disapproving, his consort would be Queen. But it is for Parliament, not the King, to say who shall he Queen, and if His Majesty’s choice should be fixed irrevocably upon a consort judged unsuitable by his subjects, the inferenco was that there would be need for another King. His Majesty could forgo this particular marriage, or abdicate, or, refusing to do either, could seek another Government. But this last option, up to the weekend, appeared to be ruled out by the facts of the case, because it was understood that Major Attlee, Leader of the Labour Opposition, had given an undertaking to the Government not to attempt to succeed it in such circumstances. Major Attlee now denies that any such undertaking was given by him. The Labour Party wants to know much more than it has yet been told about tho whole matter. What it would do is not yet decided. The objections to legislation which would recognise a King’s consort occupying a i lower status than that of Queen remain as we have stated them. They are overwhelmingly strong, from the standpoint of the Empire, with its varied races, even more than from that of Great Britain. But apart from this compromise there must be pity for the King in the issue with which he is faced. It is easy to share the fears of Mr Churchill that the problem may be too hastily and too harshly dealt with. The King cannot marry for five months, when the decree nisi which was granted in the recent divorce proceedings becomes absolute. Why such hurry, Mr Churchill has asked, to force the issue? It is early, he suggests, to say what the King’s subjects desire when Parliament has not yet been' consulted. New Zealanders might ask how Mr Savage has been able to speak for them', when the question has never been raised in this country; and so with the other dominions. If abdication should be hastily extorted there would be danger of a feeling arising afterwards that tho King had been unjustly dealt with, and that might make the worst division in his Empire. Mr Churchill has fellow-thinkers in Parliament, even in the Government party, who have gone further than himself. It is understood that a number of Conservative members have sent a personal letter to the King, assuring him of support in any action he might think necessary to defend his constitutional rights. The ‘Daily Telegraph,’ the chief Conservative organ, Compares them to tho King’s Party, who in the reign of George 111. stood for no better policy than that of supporting the King’s wishes whatever those might be. It is worth recalling that, before he came to the throne, George 111. was supposed to have wished to marry a commoner, a beautiful young Quakeress named Hannah Lightfoot, whose character it was impossible to find fault with, but that match was judged incompatible ’ with State responsibilities, and was effectually opposed by his family. Later he was unable to marry Lady Sarah Lennox, who became the mother of the famous Napiers, Sir Charles and his brothers. Mr Churchill’s suggestion of excessive pressui'e on the King is lessened by the fact that it was the King himself who, in the most honourable manner, first approached his Ministers for the special legislation which they are unable to grant. His action in so doing would seem to imply his own conviction that the lady on whom he had set his heart would not be acceptable with the full status of Queen. If the question has to come before half a dozen Parliaments, with the probability of differences of opinion existing in all of them, the prospect before the Empire is not an attractive one. Only the King can obviate such untowardness—or Mrs Simpson, who has shown no mind to be magnanimous.' Notwithstanding his subjects’ affection for King Edward, that “ the monarchy is greater than tho monarch ” is the over-ruling principle in the case. It is something that, before many hours have passed, a further statement is to be made by Mr Baldwin, which it may be hoped will give a better aspect to the issue.