The Queen's London Home.

Otago Witness, Issue 2805, 18 December 1907, Page 73

The Queen's London Home.

Special interest always attaches to anything connected with . the private life ol royalty, and of our own King and Queen in particular ; and the article which appears in the June number of Pearson a Magazine, on her Majesty Queen Alexandra's private apartments at Buckingham Palace, has an additional attraction from the fact that it is illustrated with some magnificent photographs : —

"The rooms consist of the sitting-room, the writing-room, the tapestry-room, tha Louis-room, the boudoir, the Empire-room, the waiting-room at the end of the corridor, the dressing-room and bedroom. The waiting : room is really the entrance to the private apartments. It opens into the sitting-room, which is one of the mes* beautiful apartments in the palace. Here her* Majesty * often entertains a few intimate friends at afternoon- tea. - Qa one of the walls there are several picture! painted by the Princess Victoria and on an - expuisite French writing-table ther< may be seen J. blotter bound in a gold cover bsaring 'the Italian Royal Arms a f>resent from the Queen of Italy during hei ast risit to this ..country. Between th« Qoeen of Italy and Queen Alexandra a considerable friendship exists, and they are very frequent correspondents, a fac« that perhaps suggested the idea of the gift in question. "The sitting-room is very large, one ol , the largest in any of the royal palaces.It contains two fireplaces, over one being' part of her Majesty's celebrated collection of miniatures, and above this a life-sized painting of the King, done a few -years after his marriage. The miniatures are pijrtaree of the children under ten o£ various royalties, among them being, of course the of the Prince- of Wales. The caee of miniatures is now full, so that her Majesty, much to her regret, could not put Prince Ofeif among them when his miniature was done during the recent visit of King Haakon and his Queen to this country. The miniature of the little heir to the throne of Norway' hae« therefore been placed with the rest of her Majesty's collection at Sandringham. • •

"This room abounds in every direction with interesting possessions. There is th« exquisite fire-screen presented to Her Majesty by the women of Denmark on the occasion' .of her marriage, bearing^ some thousands of signatures. There is the porcelain elephant modelled by the Empress )f Russia, and a watch which was given to the King by some Indian cliiefs. and which is said to be the oldest in existence.

" On a cabinet in one corner of the room there is a silver model of an owl which chimes every hour and half-hour. It is

1 not a clock, but is simply fitted with a ! i piece of mechanism that chimes with per- ■ feet regularity. These chimes always greatly puzzle the visitor at first, who invariably begins looking in .eveTy direction for a clock, and as there is no such thing near the clock remains a mystery until her Majesty explains the owl's pecu- i liarity."