PRINCE GEORGE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20704, 30 April 1929, Page 3

PRINCE GEORGE.

TO LEAVE THE ROYAL NAVY. REASONS OF HEALTH. WORK FOR THE FOREIGN OFFICE. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, March-19. Prince George, the fourth son of the King, is to retire from the navy and join the civil service. This fact is conveyed in an official communication from Buckingham Palace:— "Acting upon the advice of medical authority the King has approved that Prince George shall now retire from active participation in the work of the Royal Navy. His Majesty has decided, with the concurrence of the Prime Minister, that his Royal Highness shall be attached to the Foreign Office in order to gain knowledge of the administration and work of a department of State,” It happened that Prince George was the annual dinner of his Majesty’s Civil Service when the Prime Minister, who was also a guest, read the announcement. A telegram of congratulation was sent from the gathering to the King, and in reply the following message was received from his Majesty’s private secretary:— “I am commanded to express to all of the Civil Service represented at their annual dinner the King’s sincere thanks for their touching reference to his Majesty’s gradual progress towards recovery. “It is a source of gratification to the King that Prince George should be among them this evening. The King is glad to . think that one of his sous is about to assume an active part in their life, and i ms sure that Prince George will derive both happiness and benefit from bis association with this great service.” RESPONSIBILITIES AT HOME AND ABROAD. In proposing the toast “ His- Majesty’s Civil Service,” Prince George revealed the reason for his retirement from the navy. In the course of his speech he said:— It is hard me for to express lion much I regret the severance of my association with the navy and the many friends I have made in my 14 years’ service. However, I derive some consolation from the -fact that I am still to remain on the active list, and I know that my interest in, and my affection for, the navy will remain undjminished all my life. Also I aru glad to think-t2ia£, though the actual seagoing conditions of a naval life are thought to be unsuited to my health I can now devote my services to his Majesty at home, and I Hope go to equip myself to be able to take a worthy share in the ever-increasing responsibilities of the mvil service both at home and abroad. I leel it a great privilege that I am the first member of my family to be attached to the civil service, and I need hardly say that I look forward with tbe keennest interest and pleasure to the work I am about to undertake, and the friendships I hope to make in my new sphere.” TWO SILENT SERVICES. i Prime Minister, responding, addressed bis opening observations to the royal guest. T ou , sir,” he said. " have left the silent and simple service to join a silent service but less simple. You will find tlla , fc we politicians have all the fume al } a Js j servants the power. You i A ~ , we ar ® as ephemeral as the butterfly and they are as eternal as Mount Everest.—(Laughter and cheers.) xou will find that we or most of us love publicity. The civil servants, or most of them, cherish privacy. We, or most of us, like to talk; they, or most of them, to keep silent. They do not like being photographed; some of us do:—(Laughter.) “ The civil service is what is called in the jargon of the day a sheltered industry—and a strong trade union. We are unsheltered, we are exposed to all the blasts of competition, and at tho present moment my competitors are trying to sneak my customers from me.— (Laughter.) All the handiwork of the civil service redounds to our credit, and when we fall into the pit they dig us out. Being the Leader of the Tory Party, I cannot disguise this from you. I always advocate private enterprise as against Government enterprise. “You will find, sir (still speaking to Prince George), that a great deal of English language which you have learned and spoken will be of little service to you in this new walk of life upon which you have entered. You may have been accustomed to writing to your friends and saying, ‘You are talking through your hat,’ but you will have to write now: ‘My lords cannot conceive.’ I am supposed to be a speaker of some reticence—no orator, a speaker in monosyllables. My ideas arc of pellucid clarity. When Sir Warren Fisher or his satellites try to put these ideas into a Bill or convey them in writing they at once become almost impossible of comprehension.” PRINCE’S NAVAL CAREER. Prince George Edward Alexander Edmund was the first child born to their Majesties after they had become Prince and Princess of Wales. He was born on December 20, 1902, and three months before his fourteenth birthday went to the Royal Nava] College at Osborne, in obedience to bis father’s desire that he should follow a naval career. The Great War was then at its height. Passing out of Dartmouth as a midshipman on January 15, 1921, he was appointed, to Iron Duke, flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet. After two years in Iron Duke Prince George was transferred to Queen Elizabetln and in May, 1923, he became acting eub-licutenant, and spent four months in the flotilla leader Mackay. After completing the courses at Portsmouth with a view to qualifying for the rank of lieutenant the Prince was appointed in January, 1925,; to Hawkins, flagship ou the fChina station. His term of duty coincided with the serious troubles iu the Yangtse Valley. Prince George passed his examination for lieutenant in February, 1926, gaining a second-class certificate, in seamanship and “ thirds ” ip navigation, gunnery, and torpedo. During a short spell at home he qualified as an interpreter in French, in which capacitv he served in Nelson in the Atlantic Fleet. When'the King’s illness-began Prince George was serving in Durban, which was Rationed in the West Indies command, and he immediately hastened borne, arriving just before Christmas. His health in recent years -liaa not been entirely satisfactory, and this may be held to account for his retirement from the Royal Navy. In December, 1922, the Prince unden an operation for appendicitis; in February of the following year he was found to .be .suffering from hammer-toes, and his little toes were removed; and in March, 1925, he. underwent an operation for the removal of the tonsils.