“NOT EVEN IF YOU WAS KING"

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIV, 11 January 1921, Page 5

“NOT EVEN IF YOU WAS KING"

—— IO . < LONDON. Nov. 18 \vhether he was recognised or not, , the effect was the samp. The Prince of Wales, with the Duke of York and i Sir P, Sassoon, was motoring bn SaW ! urday afternoon, to have a round on • tho golf, course at Kingston Hill, and 1 the nearer route thereto was via a ' private thoroughfare through Coombe ; Wai'roh, v which, as it happens, is closed on Saturdays and Sundays. Put ‘ the party was unaware of this three- 1 months-old regulation, and'the, sequel i was an amusing experience. For the ; golfers came up against a stone wall 1 in the person of the Coombe Warren 1 gatekeeper, who refused to allow the ; car to pass. The Prince, without din- ; closing his identity, urged that the J owner of the\ private road knew him ! quite well, and would certainly let him through. e . ■ But the gatekeeper shook his head. ; “Oh, ho,” ho said, “you couldn’t ; come past hero ofi a Saturday—no, , or on a Sunday either, mark you, ! young sir—not even if you were the King himself.” The Duke pf York ' laughed heartily, saying the joke was too good to, spoil, and the party went by tho longer route via' Norbitqn. Tho Prince told the story with grout amusement, at the club-nouso, , and then went out and heat his brother by one hole, and Sir Philip by two. One cannot blame the author of the ban, Mr, W. Graham, for having decided to . plose the, road—rwhicH is, a ; private one, on the FitzGeorgo Estate —to public vehicular traffic weekends,, for as he subsequently explained: “I have a cattage in Warren road ■ myself, and the way in which motor- ; ists drove through the road before, we dofcided to close it to. them.-.ojß.jSatttrr 1 days and Sundays, was unbearable. ' Despite notice boards limiting ' the : speed of cam to miles an hour : over the road, 40 to 50 miles became : the common thing. , The toad is. a , gravel one, and is quite junsiiited to heavy and .fast motor traffic.” He , preferred not, to discuss the position • which has come about as the result . of the refusal to allow passage _ for ; the Prince’s car. But the Prince ; himself will be the last man to make J a fuss, for the gatekeeper was mere- j ly carrying out rigidly his instruo- , tions.