THE KING AND THE FREE- MASONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11620, 6 April 1901, Page 6 (Supplement)

THE KING AND THE FREEMASONS.

The expectation that when the King with* , draws from the Grand' Mastership; of the English Freemasons he will be succeeded by the Duke of Connaughfc will, upon realisa- - tion, furnish a furthejr example of; how Royal brothers have followed each other in " the chair of the Royal Solomon" in the past. The most striking example was furnished in , I 1813, when George, Prince; of Wales, resigned the Grand Mastership,'which he had held for 20 years before and three years after he became Prince Regent. He was succeeded by his brother, 1 the Duke of Sussex, while in the same year the ; Grand Master- ; ship of what was known as the Athol Grand Lodge was filled by another brother—and the present King's maternal grandfather— the Duke of Kent. Opportunity was speedily taken to amalgamate the Grand Lodge of • England and the Athol I Grand Lodge under the name of the United Grand Lodge o? England,- which title, the ruling body in ..Freemasonry still holds ; and the first Grand Master was the Duke ol Sussex, who held the position for 30 years, while the Earl of Zetland, who followed him ' in the chair, occupied it if or 26 years, a term ' which the new King has: just exceeded. The fusion under Royal auspices not only allayed rivalries but strengthened, the craft, and the extent. to which it has grown under its present Royal Mastership needs no tell- ' ing- ' i 1