THE QUEEN OF HOLLAND

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXVI, Issue 8074, 19 March 1901, Page 3

THE QUEEN OF HOLLAND

One of the Queen of Holland's subjects writes a most interesting article in the X'all Mall Magazine on the young Sovereign's early life and training, in which there is the* following :—"Rough men have been known to take off their wooden shoes before crossing the square in front of the palace at night when •Prinsesje' was in her bed. and a tine strong woman once offered to stand there and light any man who refused to do so. The officer on guard could always quieten the rowdiest party by going up to them and saying: 'Hush! hush, then ! Prinsesje sleeps !' And so she grew up to girlhood, carried (as the Dutch say) on the hands of her people; and her mother, the Princess Emma of Waldeck and Pynnont, had a heavy task. For William 111. had Ru-*ian blood in his veins on his mother's side, and it was feared that his l'.ttle daughter might have inherited something of the autocratic will of the Czars. In fact, stories of her rebellions against parental authority, of her passionate repentances and futile" strivings 'to be good.' abound. One can picture the old King smiling in these domestic battles when he had been entreated to look grave; and as for his people, the naughtier their 'Prinsesje' was. the more they loved her!" Another passage says :—"The value of halfhours has been instilled into the Queen, even with her games; and now, though she loves reading, there is no dawdling over a book for this young Queen —no lazy, do-nothing, summer hours, when the watching of a butterfly is a burden. If she has s:id she is going out at four, she leaves her occupation, however absorbing it may be. and retires to dress at six or seven minutes to the hour. At four exactly she leaves the palace, to return punctually at tlie moment appointed. Her meals' occupy the smallest possible time, and her toilet is a necessary evil that is never lingered over. And as she rises early and is not easily tired, she gets through a wonderful amount of work. Every paper is read by her before she signs it. and she personally opens every letter; even those that arrive, in the ar'ternoop. and evening are attended to. Private requests receive the same attention as those of her Ministers, and as she sweeps through her halls in her furs and lac's to drive to some evening entertainment she will stop to knit .her brows over a belated document that she has just espied in the hands of her adjutant."