QUEEN ALEXANDRA’S WILL

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, 28 September 1927, Page 6

QUEEN ALEXANDRA’S WILL

KNOTTY PROBLEMS ARISE. PRINCE OLAF’S £2,000.000. A settlement among the different persons interested in Queen Alexandra’s will finallv has been consummated. Had Queen Alexandra not been a member of the Royal Family and widow of a sovereign, savs the London correspondent of an American newspaper, it is certain that a very sensational chancery suit would have ensued over the division of the £4,000,000 worth of gold and silver treasure, jewels, antique furniture, and pictures she possessed. But all parties interested in the late Queen’s will were agreed Chat it was unthinkable the dispute over it should get into the law courts. The persons mainly interested in her will were King George and members of his family. Prince Olaf and his mother, the Queen of Norway, and the Princess Victoria.

LARGE SHARE LEFT TO PRINCE OLAF.

The position at Queen Alexandra’s death was this: She had bequeathed practically the whole of the contents of the plate-room at Marlborough House and the bulk of the valuable antique furniture she divided between the Queen of Norway and the Princess Victoria, and to the latter she left the greater part of her jewellery. The antique furnitures and pictures were valued at £7,800,000 in 1910. Queen Alexandra assumed that all this property belonged to her absolutely and that she. could make anv testamentary disposition of it which she pleased. But as a matter of fact she wa s not in a position to do this. A very considerable portion of rhe gold silver treasure and also of the furniture and the pictures had been King Edward’s personal property. On his deathbed he expressed the wish that all his treasure, pictures and furniture should be retained by Queen Alexandra for her lifetime. But in his will King Edward divided the greater part cf these valuables between King George and Queen Mary, the Prince of Wales and the Princess Mary. KING GEORGE NAMED GUARDIAN. On Queen Alexandra’s death, therefore, the question at once arose how much of the property bequeathed by her to Prince Olaf and the Queen of Norway was the Queen’s to will 1 ? That question had to be answered with some degree of exactitude and it was not an easy matter to settle. All parties interested in Queen Alexandra’s will, however, agreed that King George should become the guardian of the property until a settlement was made. The great steel doors of the plate room fit Marlborough House, where £2,000,000 wdrth of gold and silver treasure were placed, were scaled and King George took possession of the keys. Seven of the rooms at Marlborough House containing the bulk of the furniture and pictures were also locked, the doors sealed and the keys given to King George. Then ensued a long and patient examination of the catalogued contents of the valuables. The catalogues consisted of 10 books of 1000 quarto pages each. From these books and with the aid of some of the late King’s papers and correspondence it was possible to ascertain with fair exactitude what portion of the treasure, furniture and pictures belonged to the late King and should therefore properly be disposed of in accordance with the terms of his will.