HER MAJESTY AND JOHN BROWN

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4330, 13 April 1901, Page 3 (Supplement)

HER MAJESTY AND JOHN BROWN

In her association with her immediate personal servants the Queen was singularly fortunate. Possibly .the (bestknown was that characteristic scotchman, John Brown, who was born at Hie Bush,” a small farm north of Balmoral Castle, and began life as a stable lad at Balmoral. Of rugged exterior and smgulariy uncourtly manners, he from the first commended himself to the Prince Consort, who made him a gillie, and in IoJJ a personal outdoor, attendant on himself and the Queen. In 1851 ' his ■ services ware exclusively demanded by the Queen when on expedition and. jaunts in Scotland, and it was John Brown and John Grant, the head keeper, who were always taken on the secret trips of Hei Majesty and the Prince. It is recorded of these two brawny Scotchmen that oh arrival at some very poor inn they were commanded to wait on their Royal mistress at meals, but, being too. shy, the\ deputed their duties to a woman of the village. . ~ , tThe sayings and doings of John Brown were many and quaint. He was of the stuff of which, the king’s jesters were made in the olden times. He was very blunt of speech, and never gave way to the whims or fancies of anyone, nofc even excepting the Queen herself. He was not at all above reproving her Majesty for any sartorial economy shei might exercise, and would often tell her that her cloak was too old or her bonnet too shabby. Once in Scotland, after a picnic luncheon taken at the Glassalt Shiel, the Queen asked for a table to be brought from the cottage at which she could sit and make some sketches. Table after table failed to suit, the Queen’s taste, and the servants were at their wits’ end. Suddenly Brown awoke to the situation, picked up one of the discarded tables, planted it before the Queen, and said—“lt’s no possible: to mak’ anither table for you up helre.” The Queen admitted the common-sense of Brown’s remark, and used the table.

His bluntness, however, was greatly resented by many of the Queen’s relations, and there are( many stories told of his curt speeches to the Prince of Wales and others of the Royal Family. Many of the court officials did not like him, and more than once there was some intriguing to displace him. But tha Queen appreciated to the full that loyalty and singleness of heart that saved her life from thei would-be' regicide O’Connor in 1872, and that so frequently stoou between her and the impertinence of vulgar sightseers. Amonlg liiis fellow-servants John Brown was greatly beloved. They found him rough, uneducated, and a stern disciplinarian, but strictly just. He would always take the weaker side in a dispute, and obtained justice for all the servants from the committee that quietly rules the Queen’s household. ■ He was honest and trustworthy, and a good fellow among his peers; and, for all his undoubted influence, never became an upstart. A failing, which the kindly Queen refused to recognise, beset him in his later years, but his death caused genuine sorrow in the Servants’ Hall, where his portrait now hangs, as in the Queen’s drawing-room. A servant’s tribute to his memory was—“l am very sorry he is dead. It would be hatter for us all if he were still alive.”

All Brown’s brothers passed into tho Queen’s service. Donald Brown went to Osborne, Hugh became Keeper of the Kennels at Windsor, James Brown was the shepherd at Balmoral, and Archibald Brown was made a page in the Royal household.' The - Clarks were cousins of the Browns, and Francid Clark took John Brown’s place as personal attendant to the Queen after his death. Francie him-, self is dead. The Grants have also held* positions in the Royal Family as valets, messengers, and keepers. John Grant’s daughter is housekeeper at Balmoral.