ROYAL PERSONAGES AS SHOPPERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2646, 30 November 1904, Page 76

ROYAL PERSONAGES AS SHOPPERS.

THEY DO NOT SPEND RECKLESSLY. The ordinary requirements of the Royal Family are purchased on their boLulf by the membeis of their households appointed or chosen for the purpose, either b^ correspondence with tradesmen or by personal selection. When it is desired by a member of the royal house to make purchases in person, an ample assortment is often sent to the royal residence, and the selection i«t made in private. The present notes da.il with xiiose occasions when, eitlur at the regular shops or at bazaars and garden fetes, the royal buying is earned on "in the presence of the general public. In the latter years of her life Queen Victoria scarcely ever crossed the threshold of a phop within her own dominions. For good and sufficient reasons the favour bestowed upon the shop-keepers of Florence or Xice wag denied to their fellow tradesmen in Ensland. Nor d)'d her Majesty appear except on rare -occasions at charity bazaars, and then usually because one of her daughters was in charge of a stall. Almo&t the last episode of this kind occurred at a gard-en fete in Bagshot, and the indulgent monarch's purchases were so numerous that they overloaded every one of the Highland and Oriental attendants, and a proud mefsenger-boy was engaged to help to convey the parcels to the loyal cairiage. The collection included crystal caskets and enamelled cigarette boxes, faience vases and photograph, frames, a bejewelkd paper knife, an embroidered table centre, and a Shetland shawl. Although King Ed-ward is a lavish buyer of beautiful thiugs, most of which are be- i stowed upon his favoured intimates a<ncl his many nephews and nieces and grandchildren, his appearances in the London sbeps are scarcely more frequent than those of his august mother used to be. To\i ards Christmas time, however, he will j sometimes seek his favourite bookseller in ] order to commission a whole library oi j finely-bound volumes, which, in addition to drawirgs and engravings are a form of gift of which hi is very fond. His purchases of gift jewellery an invariably made ! in the privacy of the royal palace. In lecent ycers his Majesty has been more and more disposed to steer clear of bazaars, because of the inconsiderate methods -em- i ployed by society dames when engaged' in ! Felling goods in the cause of charity. Once an audacious damsel put her lips to a cup of coffee for which the King had asked, ! and assessed the price at a. guinea. As the money was paid over the royal purchaser gravely remarked", "Now, please, give me a clean cup." Once, after opening a bazaar, his Majesty offered to buy an article which attracted has infancy, and discovered to his dismay that there was rot a single coin in his pocket. One of his latest appearances as a buyer in public was during the Braemar gathering la«t autumn, when he selected a couple of Oikney chairs and some homespun stockings and clo*li at a sale in aid of the Scottish Industries Association. Except in Copenhagen, Queen Alexandra does very little personal shopping nowadays, but she is always leady to encourage philanthropic enterprises by her gracious example. To go no farther back, the purchases which sha made at, the memorable bazaar at the Hotel Cecil, six years ago were watched with interest by an admiring crowd, who were not slow to follow her Majesty's discriminating lead. She carried away with her a gold photograph frame, a choicely-bound volume of Scott, n Carru- j thers Gould caricaUuc, and autograph poitraits ox Mi?s Nellis Farrcn and Mr George Alexander. On one of the stalls a whimsical demon caught her eye, and she w ent up to the sals woman and remarked, "I vant one of the little red devils, please." In the spring season of last year, when buying yt the Albert Hall, the Queen put aside a home-mads cart and a doll's greenhouse, with many other toj-s, "for the children." At the most famous Stafford House sale of recent years her Majesty followed the same principle, and chose the quaint ast of the dolls for her little grandchildren, besides some exquisite decorative roses for her own boudoir. Two classes of tradespeople findi in the Princess of Wales an eager purchaser — the toy shops and the furniture and bric-a-brac galleries. Many a spare hour during the last twelve months has been, filled up in \ laying in treasures of various kinds fov Marlborough House and Frogmore, while a week seldom passes without some addition being made to the euviablc possessions ot the young people. If Princess Mary or her brothers be present, it is a condition of their being allowed to choose something for themselves that they shall first of all assist in picking out some gifts for the less favoured childien of the hospitals. "I want something nice," the Princess will say : "toys that you would choose for my cwn children." Aud this will be said with •simple candour, although there may be a shopful of other puichas.i>. Seme months ago her Royal Highness as looking out

,s'ime purulifises ;it a bric-a-brac shop at Windsor, whoa Frogmore House was being refurnished, and a crow d of excursionists glued their cj es to the windov.s, and ionned an admiring avenue lor her ivs she smilijigly walked away. Lite -Majesty's daugnters, as young girls, never made large purchases at the shops, and one of the new delights of the Duchess of Fife in the early days of her married life was to accompany her hus-band to the West-End shops m order to buy things for the house. Princess Charles seldom goes cut shopping alone, and many of her wants are supplied for her by Prince Charles, who> visits crowded shops in town with the utmost freedom It is among the great pleasures of Princess Victoria to take one or two of her nieces and nephews, and give them an hour of unalloyed enjoyment in a tiny toyshop or at a confectioner's. Princess Christian is a generous patron of charity bazaars, and her ii.an.ner when choosing her purchases is very winning. Site has been known to lay out as nvueli as a hundred pounds in this way in the course of a single month. Last summer, at a. sale held in the vicinity of her Berkshire 'home, it was intimated that a unifjue portrait ht'd been contributed by a well-wisher in the hope lhat her Royal Highness would be ilie purchaser, and she at once added it to her store. Both Princess Christian and her sister Princess Henry are so thoroughly versed ia bazaar pi-ices — of which they themselves fix many hundreds in the course of the year — that thc-y are never at a loss as to what livid be a proper payment to make for the objects of their fancy. At a garden fete held last autumn in the Isle of Wight, Princess Henry was careful to buy something from every stall, even to the extent of choosing a packet of cigarettes at one and a couple of neckties for her eldest sou at another. "Dolls!" she exclaimed, with •a t>ood-huroourcd gesture of dismay. "2^o dolls, thank j on ; all my children are grown up."