THE MYSTERIES OF THE KING'S HOUSEHOLD.

Otago Witness, Issue 2561, 15 April 1903, Page 66

THE MYSTERIES OF THE KING'S HOUSEHOLD.

There is a fascination, as well as a mystery, about the army of officials who constitute the King's Household ; aud the least curious man has 2'rob.ibly often speculated as to what kind of a man a GentlemanUsher Quarterly Waiter can possibly be, and how he diifer.j froir a Groom of the Great Chamber, or as to what are the duties of a Gentlemm-Porter and a Page of the Back' Stairs.

It is quite a small world in itself, this domestic retinue of the K:ng, a world as inteiesting as it is little known ; and many ot its inhabitants are the most enviable of men. Who, for instance, would not be willing to change place" 'with the Clerk of the King's Kitchen, unattractive as the title may appear? This gentlen'-an is said to be the autocrat of the under-world of the "royal palaces, where all the dainty dishes are made tha + "are set before the King" ; and, as becomes such an important official, he is reputed to fare more leiicately than any gourmet- in England.

As a reward for his agreeable duties, he receives £700 a year, with irreproachable "board and lodging," and has a personal retinue of four clerks, a messengei, and a "necessary woman," whatever the qualifying adjective may mean.

Then there is the chief cook, the culinary Caesar of the kitchens, who also draws £700 a year, arid" no doubt earns it well; and whose word is law to a small army of master-coo^s. pssi&tanl-cooks, apprentices, steam apparatus men, roasting-cooks, and kitcheninaids, to mention a few only of his subjects.

The Yeomen of the CVn'ecrionery Department are passing rich on £200 and £250 a year, with the best nf board and lodging; and there are a pastrycook and a baker, each with his owr body-guard of assistants ; while there is also a dignified official known as the "errand-man."

To the King's chief butler, who draws £500 a year, is entrusted the ordering of the Royal wines and the custody of the cellars ; while two officials", whose sole duty it is to prepare and deck the Royal tables, receive £200 a year each.

From the errand-man . to the Lord Steward, the supreme head of the King's household, is a great jump ; foi the Lord Steward is field-marshal of the annv in which the gentleman who runs errands is a private. The Lord Steward, who receives £2000 a year, and is always a great nobleman, is first of the four great officers of the Royal household, of whom the others aw the treasurer, the comptroller, and the mastei of the household, the last-named ranking next in ■ salary to his chief, with £1158 a year — to which must be added the privilege of dining at the King's own table. These are the four dignitaries who preside ii: a judicial capacity at the board of green cloth and the Court of the Marshalsea — two little-known courts, of large and varied jurisdiction. The court of green cloth not only includes Buckingham Palace within its dominion, but the whole dMrict within a radius of 12 miles ; and at one tims heid ihe power of life and death over traitors and murderers. Now, alls! its function is chiefly to settle disputes on points of etiquette and precedence, or ai range kitchen and other domestic differences.

The Court ot the Marshalsea. to -which many officials, including constables, are attached, has jurisdiction over all Royal houses other than Buekinghim Palace.

The Master of the Ceremonies is a very dignified and courtly official, a past-master on all points of etiquette and ot grace of deportment. He receives the seeminclv inadequate salary of £500 a year. The King's military domestic retinue consists oi a corps of 40 gentlemen-at-arms, each ot whom receives a retaining salary >f £100 a year, while the captain and lieutenant respectively draw £1200 and £600 a year.

The mediaeval gentlemen known as the Yeomen of the Guard are rewarded by £90 ;■ year each ; and their -aptain, always a peer, receives £1200. The keeper of the piivy purse has the pleasing duty of signing all the King's cheques and dispensing bis private charity, in return for £1000 a year and many perquisites ; while the Lord High Almoner, the Bishop or Ely, is responsib'e for the distribution of Royal alms on Maundy Thursday, and on two other occasions during each year.

The King's medical body-guard onsists o' 22 of the most eminent physicians and surgeons in England, to whom the honour is moie than the compniatively sizull retjuaiuji lees tliev receive.

His musical taste is ministered to by an excellent band, which costs nearly £2000 a year ; of ■which the master receives £200, the conductor £100, and the instrumentalists £40, which is also the salary of 10 State trumpeters. Of more ornamental officials, there are eight lords-in-waiting, all high nobles ; as many grooms-in-waiting, distinguished officers of the army and navy, with three extra grooms-in-waiting. The gentlemen-ushers are an army in themselves, and are of many classes, oi the privy chamber, black rod, and daily and quarterly waiters.

Among lower-placed, and perhaps more useful, officials the foo l .men receive from £60 to £80 a year ; and. surprising to state, the wages of" the Royal housemaids range from £14 to 520 a "year. To these we must add a large number of household officials, too numerous 'to nention. and ranging from the librarian and poet laurate to the master of the Royal barge, the keeper of the swans, and that most laysterious official gentleman, tne Coronei of the Verge.