King as a Sportsman

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22725, 11 May 1937, Page 2 (Supplement)

King as a Sportsman

SKILL IN MANY GAMES

A VERSATILE proficiency in sport is part of the stock-in-trade of princes. Without it they would, fall short in their duty of being able to meet every man on* his own ground. It need not surprise us, therefore, that King George VI. plays many different games ; they formed part of his early training, like his varied school curriculum, before he was really old enough to choose his pastimes and studies for himself.

What is remarkable, however, is that the King not merely plays many games, but plays several of them supremely well. Consider his delicate health in early manhood, his service at sea and the constant public demands upon

him for many years past, and you will agree that most men so situated, however keen on sport, would scarcely find time to do more than keep reasonably fit. But thoroughness is a cornerstone of the King's character. He cannot endure doing anything by halves; and he brings to sport the same zest that he shows in his public work.

Lawn tennis is his favourite game, and his best. His friends declare that he is still up to Wimbledon standards, although it is 11 years

since he. played there. In 1926, as Duke of York, he partnered his friend and equerry, WingCommander Louis Grieg, in the All-England championships. That they lost their doubles match was scarcely surprising, considering that their opponents were two former champions— A. W. Gore and H. Roper Barrott, afterwardp Captain of England's Davis Cup teams. The Duke and his equerry played an ex cellent game, however, and proved themselves an ideal partnership. In that same year they won the Air Force doubles in the Service championships, and they constantly played together since. To this day each declares that the other is his "perfect partner." All the sons of King George V. play a bettei than average game of golf. The Duke of Windsor, because of his constant appearances on public courses, has generally been regarded as the Royal Family's best golfer. Actually, however, he has never played quite as good a game as the present King. The latter modestly gives his handicap as 10, but he frequently plays down to 7. Professionals say that he could easily get down to 2, if he devoted as much time to golf as he does to tennis. But go.lf is one of the games he has had to cut down severely since he assumed the exacting duties of kingship. His Majesty is not only the best golfer and tennis player in his family—he is also, by far, the finest shot. To say that he is in the same class as his father, is praise enough, for the late King, even in old age, was reckoned one of the three or four best marksmen in Britain The new King's love of shooting is probabh the chief reason for his determination to main tain the glories of Sandringham, where both his father and grandfather entertained so many shooting parties. At Balmoral, he is equally at home, arid tor many years before his father's death, he virtually managed the sporting estate there. Deer stalking is, indeed, one of his favourite

By Charles • Martin

sports. He knows almost every square yard of the Royal forest on Deeside, and delights in acting as stalker for his friends. He has had experience of big game shoot ing, and gave proof both of his marksmanship and of his courage in East Africa. .1 A game to which the King is now: giviiig more and more attention is squash racquets It is his recipe for fitness. How that State business makes such heavy demands upon him, he is often unable to get a round ofjgolf or a practice game of tennis. But he usually finds .time, between tea and dinner, for an energetic game of squash on the court, which his brother installed at the Palace. He learnt squash at the Bath Club when he was quite a small boy, and he has ikept up the game ever since, spurred on by the equal enthusiasm of his elder brother. The Prince of Wales, when he set out on Iris Empire tours after the war, devised a portable, zinc-lined squash court, which could be erected on the deck of the Renown. When, in 1926, the Duke of York, in his turn, went to visit"N.ew Zealand and Australia, he remembered his brother's ingenious contraption. "I'll make you a present of it—if you caD find it," said the Prince of Wales. Inquiries were made, and the zinc-lined court was found in store, somewhat battered, but still intact. It provided the Duke with daily exercise od the high seas. Cricket and football are games at whicb the King showed early promise. But by the very nature of things he has had few opportunities to play them in later life ; the Prince did not so to school, and it is hard to master 22 men at short notice in a Royal circle.,Ni&verthe less, in their _ unrestricted days of early youth the King and his brothers played many a gann of both cricket and football with village boy? at Sandringham. Of the two he preferred cricket. One of hi- 1 boyhood boasts was that he once performec; the hat trick on the lawn at Sandringham. And what a distinguished bag it was. He bowled ir> turn his grandfather, King Edward ;, his father., then Prince of Wales; and his brother, Edward That the King rides goes without saying. It was one of his earliest accomplishments and he is an excellent horseman. He used to be a regular rider to hounds, but gave up hunting as a measure of economy during the financial crisis. .. Flying, perhaps, is not to be reckoned among His Majesty's sports, for he does not fly for pleasure. But as an R.A.F. officer, he gained his wings, and is the only member of his family to hold a pilot's licence. He has always loved speed and used to be a keen motor-cyclist, until his mother persuaded him to give up what she feared was a dangerous sport. The King's interests are not all athletic He was one of the earliest devotees of cinephotography. Some years ago a Hollywood, company asked his permission to make a-picture of the two little Princesses at play in their Piccadilly garden. "You can tell the company I make my own films of my daughters," was. his reply. ' . ,