THE QUEEN'S FRIEND.

Colonist, Volume LII, Issue 12772, 19 April 1910, Page 1

THE QUEEN'S FRIEND.

i # Miss Knollys is one, of those very j important personages at Court who remain a great deal in tho background." : In the great State functions, by the 5 rules of precedence, she plays but a E comparatively minor part, and is seen very little in general society, except when in attendance on the Queen. Yei ■ £^ Ss £ noll 3' 8 i" the one member of hei household whom her Majesty probabh 1 regards as indispensable. I Miss Knollys was, of course familial I with the atmosphere and ways of the Court. Her father, General Sir William: Knollys, and her brother then M; Francis Knollys, now Lord Knollys , were both in Queen Victoria's house . hold. Miss Ivnollys, therefore in spif-r of her youth, possessed that essentia qualification of a maid of honour; ai intimate knowledge of the usages an< customs of the Court. From the day she entered the roya establishment it became evident tha, Miss Knollys was destined to occupy a -position of considerable influence' Officially, she was but an extra Lad> of the Bedchamber, but, in point o fact, she. became the Princess's con stant attendant — perhaps companioi would be a more accurate word. The story is that the Queeu once ex pressed an earnest hope to her friem that she would never marry that Mis ; Knollys promised she never would, am that a couple of years later she had tc choose between breaking her promise to the lady whom she had promised tf serve for life, or sacrificing her affec tions for the man she loved. She cihosi to do the latter, and it was not untL long afterwards that her Majest\ learnt the whole story of how much her maid of honour had given up foi her sake. Miss Knollys has always been an imfavourite jwith the children o King Edward and the Queen, though the Queen of Norway was said to be her special favourite. A story is told" of how on one occasion when her Majesty womt, accompanied by Miss Knollys, to be photographed with the. little Princess Maud, who was then about four years old, hej little Royal Highness at the conclusior of the sitting suddenly began to cry. On being asked to explain the cause ol her trouble, the little Princess said plaintively : "I want to be, photograph ed with Chatty, too," and her requesl was duly granted. In Miss Knollys tho Queen has something more than a dear friend anc 1 companion, she has a secretary whoso services are well-nigh indispensable. Her Majesty's official and public correspondence is, of course, attended to by Mr. Sydney Greville, while Mr. E Ernest Bryant looks after the ac counts of her Majesty's establishment which are kept quite separate fron, those of the King's Household. But it is in regard to her private affairs and business that tho Queen finds Misi Knollys' aid so invaluable partly, n< doubt, because her friend is so familiar with them, but peirhaps more largely because Miss Knollys possessos considerable business ability.— "M.A.P." 2i •?.?!-" ~