A LIFE-TIME AT COURT.

Northern Advocate, 11 April 1914, Page 8

A LIFE-TIME AT COURT.

LORD

SUFFIELD'S "MEMORIES."

" 'My son has asked for you,' her Majesty said to me, 'and you know I cannot refuse him anything.' "Of course, there was nothing I could say, even had I wanted to, so simply kissed her hand and went away." It was to Lord Suffield that Queen Victoria thus simply gave the command that he was to leave her service for that of her son, King Edward VII. (then Prince of Wales). For 40 years Lord Suffield and King Edward were as devoted friends as men can be, and now the public are given the memoirs in which his lordship records the story of his life at Court. In these pages, grave and gay, none will haunt the memory longer than that in which Lord Suffield describes that dismal night at Buckingham Palace when he clasped for the last time the hand of his dying sovereign and friend, while the crowds waited anxiously outside the palace walls. Here is a little pen picture of the scene in the Royal death chamber: —

"His Majesty sent ( for me directly he returned from abroad, and I was with him to the end. Not when he ■was dying, but jjust before, when he could hardly see, he sent the nurse into the next room for me, and tried to say good-bye. He knew, and so did the Queen, how absolutely attached to him I was, so it did not matter that I, too, could not speak any farewell. I loved'him as much as one man can love another. We had been together so • constantly during the last forty years of his life, for even when he went anywhere without me he nearly always sent for me to join him; and now that the end had come there was no need for words. Directly. after he had passed away' the nurse left me by myself in the room with him, so that I was able to say my last farewell alone. Then I just went away, -for after he had gone I wanted nothing more to do with the Court,"unless it was something for the Queen.' , • '

Lord Suffield had the art of winning, the favour of high and low, and of retaining it. With all the members of the Royal Family he was always persona grata. He seems to have come and gone not only as a member of the Royal Household, but in a still mere intimate sense as a member of the Household itself. 'In 1880 a droll incident -occurred of which Queen Mary was the heroine. "It was a delightfully cold winter," writes Lord Svffield, " but it beat all records for big and delightful country house parties: I went one day to White Lodge, where I arrived just in time to see Princess Mary, now our Queen, sliding down the stairs, on a , tray. Her little Royal Highness looked much embarrassed when she saw me 1 w,ith her mother, feeling that her progress downwards had been, perhaps, a little undignified, but the Duchess simply, laughed at her and said, 'Never mind, dear child,, it is only Lord Suffield.' "

Lord . Suffield's discursive .pages give some interesting glimpses into the social history, of the last century. In his early days the most grotesque' superstitions were rife. This is shown by the following story concerning a bride and- bridegroom who faced the world in the airy attitude of Adam and Eve in their happy days,of existence in the .Garden of Eden.

"Even in these days Norfolk people

are rather given to amazing beliefs and strange ; superstitions, but , I scarcely think any could be found now quite so credulous as a bride and groom who. were married about the time I was born. The man was a Chelsea pensioner, the woman a widow, whose first husband had left several debts behind him. Early- in the morning they repaired to a crossway a short distance from the village, accompanied by three witnesses. The groom took up his position on one side of the road, the bride hers on the other. Then, assisted by the witnesses, the good woman proceeded to disrobe, afterwards crossing the road in puris naturalibus to the waiting bridegroom. How,their belief arose I know not, but both were imbued with heaven-born faith that by their due performance of this quaint ceremony they.were freeing the new husband of all liabilities contracted by the old one. History does not relate whether or not they were disillusioned."

"We East Anglians are shortlived," says -Lord Suffield, when referring to his native heath, and.goes on to recite the fruitful record of an old lady of Seole who died at 92.

"Af 47;" he says, '''she had married a youth of 17,. and had by him 18 children, 13 sons and five daughters, all of whom grew up. It was said of her that 'this, remarkable woman seldom took more than two or three hours' sleep of the twenty-four, , which is quite conceivable with so large a family. There was a Mrs Sarah Jassop, who reached'one hundred and one years. She had 16 children 'who multiplied to the fourth generation in -our lifetime, so that her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren at the time of her death amounted to four hundred and forty-four. Upwards of two hundred of her gredt-grandchildren fol-, lowed her to the grave, to which she" was carried by her four sons. She was, until eighteen months before her death/ employed as walking post between Diss and Winfarthing, a distance of four miles, which she consistently performed in all weathers!' Even more remarkable was the case

of John Holmes, who died at the age of one hundred and four, having lived to see the sixth generation, ■of his own great-grandson become a grandfather. When he died his son was S7 and his grandson 70."

In the early sixties the Prince of Wales purchased Sandringham and estate, paying £220,000, and Lord Suffield has much to say on the happy times in the Prince's Norfolk home.

"The. Prince," he says, "began by rebuilding the house on a much larger scale, and up to the last year of his life he was continually improving, building new cottages, repairing churches and spending money on the place in one way and another, until il is now an ideal estate, vastly different from the wind-swept, barren, moorland it was in 1862."

Lord Suffield offers some racy glimpses of life in Norfolk, where for a time he was in command of the Prince of Wales' Own Norfolk Artillery. These were the days when volunteers wore whiskers, and often artistically flowing locks. But Lord Suffield had a way with him. Here i:s a parade scene worthy of Harry Lpr-requer:—

"Look here, men, to the devil with all this hair on your faces; it's got to come off. I want you to look smart and soldierly; and you can't while you're wearing all this hair. Now, you must all go and get shaved, and not a man of you shall leave the barracks until it has been done. Some of them objected that their women would not like it, but I was hardhearted, and told them that I could not help what their women liked; it roust come off. Then I saw that they had something to say,.and I told them I.to out with it, and they said, 'But, my lord, you're carrying a beard yourself!' I told them that that was a different matter altogether; I rode on hrrseback high above them, and they could not compare me* with themselves. I gave the sentries orders to shut the gates, and not allow any manj out until he was shaved. It was a pretty high-handed thing to do, but they were good, fellows and : did it without another murmur. I really think they must have been fond of me, and I was certainly proud of 'them. I never heard what took place when their womenfolk .saw* s .them '■without their beards. , " '- '- ,

EARLY VICTORIAN SOCIETY. . , Speaking of,society in the early .Victorian days, Lord Suffield says:—

j "In the first thirty years of Queen | Victoria's reign society was very different to what it is , now. . Boun['daries were definitely, drawn and [rigidly adhered to; American and J' colonial millionaires were unknown, except in. .their own spheres of useful-

ness, and from the Court downwards conduct was governed by rules and regulations, both spoken and unspoken, which would be scouted with ridi-to-day. People used to intrude their religious beliefs upon all and sundry in a way .that would never be tolerated at present. I remember an occasion of this sort, which had a rather comical sequel. The then Earl of Cork was a very pious person,.and extremely solicitous as to the future salvation of his fellow men. One day, finding himself in a crowded railway carriage, he seized the opportunity for improving the moment, and delivered a homily as earnest as it was undesired, exhorting everyone to immediately set' about ensuring his happiness in a future life. Presently one of the passengers, a man who had been listening very attentively to all that Cork said, arrived at his station. When he got out on the platform,he turned round, and, leaning through the carriage door, said: 'Thank you, sir. One good turn deserves another. You've put me up to. a wrinkle in your profession, now let me give you one in return. I'm a hatter. Put a piece of blotting paper inside the lining of your and it will last twice as long. v Good-day.' As he walked off the occupants of the carriage broke into a shout of laughter, and Cork harangued no more on that journey." £250,000 FOR A PEERAGE: The most extraordinary requests were made at times to Lord Suffield to use his influence with Queen Victoria) and with the Prince, before and after he became King. "Some of the most amazing propositions'were from the last people one might haye expected, to make them. One man, who wanted a peerage, tried to bribe me by offering to build a sea wall round , Overstrand if I would persuade the Queens to honour him. Perhaps it would have been the right thing to go to the Queen with the offer, since Her Majesty, after all, was more deeply concerned in the fact that the sea was making inroads oh her kingdom even than the owners of the land.affected. She might have thought so great a boon as a sea wall very cheap at the price, although in her days wealth was not quite so powerful as now, and merit was a degree in advance of money in obtaining honours. In fact the suggestion might have resulted, by a judicious creation of 'sea wall peers,' in surrounding the kingdom *wil?h a girdle of protection from the waves! I did not, however, consider it in that light at the time. Another man offered me £250,000 to induce the Queen to grant him a peerage, and, in fact, I was constantly approached with requests of the same nature. But I should not have been so happy as I was with them had I worried them for favours."

When the Prince was going to India, Lord Suffield, of course, accompanied him. The Princess, in the

n?idst of tears, begged his lordship.to "look after him and never leave him." He kissed the august lady's hand, and right loyally obeyed her behest, for, like any mediaeval knight, he was his Royal master's shadow, and often through the long night sat by his side, wide awake and vigilant, while His Royal Highness_ slept. Such loving service had its reward, and to the end Lord Sufneld was King Edward's most trusted and cherished and wellnigh inseparable friend. Therefore, the book, "My Memories," is probably the best of its kind ,yet published.