Britain's Democratic King and Queen

Sun (Christchurch), Volume IV, Issue 1164, 3 November 1917, Page 4 (Supplement)

Britain's Democratic King and Queen

FBOPES kings and queens are getting JmQmJw beautifully less, but the lives of some of those who remain, particularly the royal pair of England, are far from being idle, says a London King George and Queen Mary are two of the hardest worked people ni England. A case in point was when both of them went to Dominion Day service in Westminster Abbey in the morning and after a hurried lunch Queen Mary put in an appearance in Central Hall, Westminster, at 2.15 and inspected, talked to and took a personal interest in no fewer than 120 babies, and about 100 mothers. I don't believe the queen sat down or stopped talking and bowing and rather laboriously doing her duty for a solid two hours, for she did not leave the hall until some time after 4. She probably had been standing previously at Westminster Abbey during the service and subsequent reception for an equal length of lime; also, she had changed her dress in between times. The reason why Queen Mary came to the Central Hall, Westminster, was because on July 2 National Baby Week held its first exhibition, and there were all sorts of things relating to babies—their health, their lives and their food—going on within the building. It was also interesting because it was the first occasion on which the women in khaki shared with the police the difficult duty of organising an unexpectedly large crowd of sight-seers. It is comparatively easy, if rather rough work, to keep order in a crowd composed chiefly of men and women, but when it comes to a vast multitude that includes a large majority of babies and young children the matter becomes one of extreme delicacy and some danger. The women in khaki, who are under military discipline, acted fairly well under the circumstances. The voices of (he babies drowned most of the noises in the hall, because the majority of them protested loudly against their fate in being jostled and pushed about even for the sake of England's queen. Everybody was rather disappointed because Queen Mary did not take one of the babies in her arms; instead of that she contented herself with patting their heads or tapping their cheeks with a white-gloved finger, while the inevitable tightly-rolled umbrella that most people have come to believe is one of the queen s signs of office seemed to be a never-failing source of curiosity and delight to most of the infants present. It is a wonderful sign of the times in England that, as the war proceeds and becomes even wider in its range, regal state and dignity seem less jealously guarded. I was told the other day by a very famous man that he was summoned to have a private audience of the king. He told me that the whole procedure of his reception at Buckingham Palace and the manner in which he was ushered into the presence of the King had changed to :>n amazing degree since the last occasion on which he had had a similar honour. "It was just like calling on a rather busy statesman." he told me. "His secretary opened the door of the library where the king was waiting to receive me, mentioned my name, and left. I went forward to the big table beside which King George was standing. He shook hands with me, Rave me a cigar, and we sat down and talked. There was no fuss and no suggestion of regal state In fact, so very much of a man-to-man atmosphere was present in our conversation that I found myself forgetting to keep on with the jsual 'sir* with which one is accustomed to address a royal personage. I think we would have talked for at least an hour had not the telephone rung and he answered it just in the same way that any business man would do a summons that came to his private office."

It is officially announced that the Major Carter who poured hot coffee on a soldier's head at York is not the Major Carter who had so much hot water poured over his own poll in India and Mesopotamia. Unfortunately bvth names were raised in the House of Commons on the same day, and the argument from probabilities did the rest.