Miscellaneous. THE QUEEN IN FRANCE.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 10011, 8 June 1895, Page 5

Miscellaneous. THE QUEEN IN FRANCE.

Some chatty gossip apropos of the Queen's recent visit to Cimlex, In tho Riviera, is contributed by tho wellknown writer Mr Albert Vandam to a London contemporary. Accident has £ thrown that gentleman upon more than ' ono occasion across her Majesty's path i while she was visiting or passing ( through France, and ho gives a rather [ amusing sketch of the soene at Calais c railway etalion, when the Queen's t retainers have possession of it. The t bead waiter of the buffet at tho hotel, c an Englishman who fulfills his duties f admirably every other day in the year, c on such occasions has eyea and ears for a no one but "a quartette of individuals h seated round a well- furnished table, 1 who on enquiry turn out to be the a Queen's head coaohman, the Qaeen'a E head footman, the Queon'a head cook, b and the Queen's head something else." tl At another table sit her Majesty's Indian bi servauts, gorgeous aa to raiment and oi oxclusivo as to their food, which they in prepare themselves. In public they ki appoar only to consume a steaming re compound, which on enquiry proves to hi be whisky hot. The platform' is littered at with eases and bales b oaring the initials fr V.R. surmounted with a crown, tho ta Royal carriages and horses are outside, th and the famous donkey ia with them, ro Concerning this donkey Mr Vandam " says it was purchased by the Queen on si: her first visit to Aix-leH-Balns. fie "One day when the Queen was wi strolling along the shores of the lake, oh she noticed a pretty but decidedly over. Co workud and undorfed donkey being m< [3rheu by a peasant. 'Is It for sale, dii my man ? ' asked her Majesty. ' That mi lapouds m&darao,' was the reply, joi .ittered in a somewhat auspioious tone, Af

If I p^rt with it, how am I to get mv ving ? ' ' Whr.t did you give for it ? ' [ had it a bargain. I bought it for n rjndred francs.' ' Well, I'll give you 70 hundred, no that you may buy uuraolf another,' Tnn sale wan cor.« laded then and thvte, aad that night le peasant's donkay hid sumptuous narters and nnstiGtecl food, probably Dr tho first limo in ifg existence. Of ourao tho story apro'iil ; since then tur Injesty rarely drives out anjwliora fbilo sho is i<» Franco without meeting couple of half-starved donkeys driven iy cunning-looking peasant?. When acrjuot— that I believo v its nnme— nmo baok to Aix on the occasion r,f her Majesty's second visit, its former muster 70s anxious to get a glimpse oE it. ' I lught to have sold myself into the bar;ain,' he oxclaimed, when he saw how facquet hid prospered.' The peasantry, however, as a rule take ittle notion of her Majesty, failing to inderatand the simplicity or her surroundings. They cinnot reoonoile tho kbsengo of display with the idea of n [Jueen, for with the exception of a 'small litmer-party now and then thero are no receptions, no processions, no balls, rhe Queen's lifo when abroad differs very little from that whioh sho loads at home, exoapt that perhaps she does a little less work aud takes ra her longer drives. After her r«tu m from her excursions (ho Queen receives a small number of local notabililie*, but we learn that those thus privileged to have a personal inter vie warn of ten disappointed. Her Majasty, though she oan talk admirably, never talks f.j r the sake of doing so, and though she ia an excellent listener, it must be to someone worth listening to. " With the exception of tho higher clergy and a few generals, Interesting official personages are becoming more rare in France every day ; hence the frequent disappointments." At eleven o'clock, all the lights are out in the Qneen's residence and the detectives, Euglish and Frenoh, take charge of it for the night.