THE KING'S CLOCKS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21326, 29 October 1932, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE KING'S CLOCKS

REMARKABLE COLLECTION ONE VALUED AT £IO,OOO Twenty-four men have lately been busy at. Buckingham ' Palace giving the King S clocks their autumn clean. The work occupies) two months, for they clean and adjust every one of the wonderful collection of more than 160 clocks at the palace. Even after the two months most of the clocks in the Royal collection will remain to be done, for at Windsor Castle there are another 360 belonging to the King, as well as about 250 more at Sandringham and Balmoral and other Royal residences. The King's favourite timepiece is a small clock with a plain mahogany case and a simple plain dial, which always stands on the desk in his study at Buckf ingham Palace, where he does much of his official work. It has been in the King s possession for many years, and by it he regulates his many audiences and interviews. The King is one of the most punctual men in the country, and is never late for an official function or a private engagement, so that all the palace clocks must be accurate. It is an expert's duty to wind and adjust them every day. The most curious clock in the collection is one made in France in the time of Louis XV. It is in the form of a riegress' head, with one eye showing the hour and the other the minute. There is a small clock at Windsor, beautifully engraved with true lover's knots, which was a wedding present from Henry VIII. to Anne Boleyn. It is worth £IO,OOO. Another Windsor clock—a Buhl piece of Louis XIV. time—is worth £SOOO. The tallest of the King's clocks is at Buckingham Palace. It is a grandfather clock, over a hundred years old, which is 9ft. lOin. in height. While great care is taken at Buckingham Palace to keep every clock accurate, at Sandringham, the King's estate in Norfolk, every clock is half an hour fast. The generally accepted explanation of this is that King Edward wished to make it easier for himself to be in time for engagements, but the real reason is that King Edward, impatient at the shortness of the autumn days when most of his shooting was clone, forestalled summer time by ordering the clocks to be advanced. The custom has been maintained ever since.