OUR NEW KING.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XL, Issue 6917, 28 January 1901, Page 4

OUR NEW KING.

HIS DAILY WORK AS PRINCE OP WALES.

(From Harmsworth Magazine.")

Our new King has long been known as the hardest worker in Europe. As Prince of Wales, if he had not been resolute, unflinchingly energetic, and the essence of punctuality, he could not possibly havo got through all he did every day of his life.

He was an early riser, though he went to bed very late, and even should daylight find him still busy with his arrears of private correspondence, he would be ready to get up when called at eight o'clock.

Practically the only time his Majesty had to himself was before the simple breakfast, of which he would partake alone about nine o'clock, and the short time he had to Bnatch from public affairs after, that meal. A breath of fresh morning air in the pretty grounds of Marlborough House braced him up to face the enormous piles of letters that awaited his attention after his first meal. Eminently a business man, the Prince never let his mail wait. Every single letter addressed to him by his acquaintances he actually opened with his own hands and perused himself. Then he sorted his correspondence, setting aside those epistles that concerned his own private affairs for his own answering, and those that required consideration, for future consultation with special counsellors on the subjects they touched. Letters that his secretaries could reply to for him he left to them; but on even these he advised what form the answer was to take. The Princess of "Wales did not generally get up so early as her husband, so that his Royal Highness had leisure (such as it was) in which to ace his private secretary, Sir Francis Knollys, and his equerry, and with them arrange the details of the day's programme, and what carriages and horses would be required, before he went for a little- second breakfast, and domestic communion with his wife and daughter, and any guests who might be staying at Marlborough House. If he' had time it was his pleasure next to walk across to York House to see the Duke and Duchess of York, and for a little while to play with his grandchildren, unless Prince Eddie and his little brother and sister had been brought in perambulator* by their nursos and a plain clothes officer to Marlborough House, as they often were in the early morning. The racket of the 'day then began. Perhaps a deputation would have to'be received by the Prince, and he might also have to preside at a business meeting, of which he held an official post as governor. Usually these affairs took place about eleven in the Indian room, the apartment that contained the priceless treasures presented to his Royal Highness during his tour in India in 1876, by the native princes and chiefs.

A list of the functions oyer which our busiest Prince presided in a morning would fill a column. Besides doing his duty as president of this and governor of that institution, the Prince had a vast amount of business that required and received his personal attention in connection with the Duchy of Cornwall. When he entered No.-1, Buckinghamgate, he was Duke of Cornwall rather than Prince of Wales, and more or less, in consequence, a private landowner instead of a f uture King. There were m^J? n1 10ns attended by h« Royai Bjghness that were never chronicled in the papers because of the Prince's known desire to keep them private. Such were the visits he paid to the hospitals, quite unexpectedly, or with only a brief intimation, sent half an hour before, of his intention.

The subject of the Bick poor, and the I amelioration of their sufferings, was near the Prince's innermost heart. He would frequently sandwich a visit to a hospital in between a military review and alevee, both.yjpf.jWhich functions entailed an amoMWwMssing that, reduced as such itemrflffs& jpy'B programme are to a science, necessarily took a considerable sline of time out of the eighteen hours devoted by his Royal Highness to hard labour every day during the season. s*W»JI I

In his Field Marshall's uniform (a most elaborate dress), and wearing the full insignia of bis various orders—if it wero what hi known as a "collar day"— the spick and span appearance of the Pnnce of Wales represented hours of close work on the part of his valets. ': Then, again, as Grand Master of the l'ree masons—the highest office possible

in the oraft—there was an elaborate toilet to be made,- including the arrangement of jewels of special significance and the most sumptuous beauty and I value. Trusted officials were employed to lay out the Prince's orders and jewels, and convey them from place to place, to meet his Royal Highness, who not infrequently was so preßstd for time that he was obliged to make quick changes in his costume wherever he might happen to be holding a ceremony. The Prince's love of sport and everything military and naval would have I taken him to exhibitions, races, and regattas, as well as all national displays, if he had been a private gentleman. The fact that his position was what it was made such affairs a necessary duty, but his Royal Highness never shirked any function, and never grumbled. In fact, it is a well-known truism that he enjoyed all he did. He has never known a base moment, but is as fresh now as when he was a lad of twelve. Sometimes there was a little leisure in the afternoon before dinner for a game of billiards, but not often in June and July. Dinner was a movable feast, arranged when partaken of at home, to suit the engagements of the evening. Both the Prince and Princess patronised the opera, after which His Royal Highness often looked in at a smoking concert, finishing up the day at his club, and later still at home; often, last of all, absorbed once more over his letters and business affairs for the next day. This enumeration of an average day spent by our present King shows at once that His Majesty has been used to lead as busy a life as any man living. In faot, there are few men who could do as hard a day's work, and do it with that unfailing courtesy and cheerfulness whioh our new King displayed when Prince of Wales in the exercise of his multi-various duties.