KING STRICKEN WITH ILLNESS

Taranaki Daily News, 8 July 1929, Page 12

KING STRICKEN WITH ILLNESS

PROFOUND EFFECT OIN THE EMPIRE ;

LONG FIGHT AGAINST DISEASE HAPPY ENDING TO ANXIOUS DAYS One cold and wintry day in late November London flashed out a message that acted like a spark in*. dry tinder wherever it touched the Empire. The flame spread rapidly from one country to another, from one populous centre to many far-flung outposts, until it had set alight the interests and affections of millions of scattered people, Countless thoughts were focussed on Buckingham Palace. Ths King was ill. If anything could show the world what an intimate relationship exists between King George V. and the lowliest of his subjects, it was that spontaneous outpouring of sympathy and anxiety that greeted the first announcement of the Court physicians, While the citizens of other lands may regard their monarchs with a respect born of awe for the pomp and glitter surrounding the head of a State kept scrupulously far above the people, Britons re* gard their King with a respect born of reverence for the head of an Empire who has time and again proved he is one of the people. They feel that Burke spoke their thoughts when he said: “The King and his faithful subjects, the Lords and Commons of this realm—the triple cord that no man can break.” But in this instance the affectionate sympathy of the whole Empire was drawn by a circumstance that made the recovery of the King of great personal concern to his subjects: It was reported that his Majesty was suffering because he had insisted on standing bareheaded in the rain during the whole of the memorial service for the dead at the Cenotaph on November 11. He contracted a 'chill. The Sovereign had mourned with his people for his dead.

For several days following 'the first announcement the bulletins were of a reassuring character and the nation felt (relieved. Then, however, the illness took a turn for the worse and it was disclosed to an anxious public that there was an extensive plastic pleurisy of the right lung. The princes were called home from abroad. Reading between the lines of the brief reports the people found that their ruler was really in a critical condition. Ragged, half-starved London from the slums began to wait anxiously for news outside the palace gates. Well-dressed, cultured London came in its motor-cars. It rained, it blew, it snowed; still the ever-changing, restless crowd moved about the entrance. Rich men mingled with poor, flower-girls, factory girls, and shop girls rubbed shoulders with the greatest ladies of the land. Faces ° / lined with personal troubles showed a very genuine sympathy for their leader in his suffering. Time went on and the disease fluctuated in its course. Throughout December there were alternations of hope and fear. The utmost resources of medical science and skill were concentrated in the effort to preserve the King’s life, but the issue was long in doubt. A relapse was reported on Boxing Day, and the whole of the Christmas and New Year season was shadowed by the people’s anxiety. MESSAGES FROM WIDE WORLD. In the meantime messages of sympathy had been flowing in from every quarter of the globe. An elderly flower seller from whom the King was accustomed to make purchases sent him a bouquet to brighten his sick room. It was a touching gesture of practical sympathy typical of many more. Though they could not express their feelings in such an ' intimate fashion, the Dominions took just as personal an interest in the progress of their King as did those who lived in the vicinity of the palace. There was an intense feeling of strain. It was not until the second week of January that the extreme tension began to be relieved, and more hopeful bul-

letins of the King’s medical attendants gave indications that he was on tho road to recovery. A wide variety of treatments designed to combat the disease, and to maintain the patient’s sorely-drained strength by ..injections and by ray therapy "was applied by foremost specialists. It was. generally regarded as a great triumph for medical science that the King safely parsed the crises and by February 10 was well enough to ba removed to a mansion placed at his disposal at Bognor. There he recuperated slowly in the genial sunshine of the seaside resort. He was reported to. be convalescent and on May 15 he made a good journey from Bognor to the palace at Windsor. SERVICES POSTPONED. . Shortly afterwards June 16 was fixed as the day of national thanksgiving for his restoration to health, but on May 30 it was announced that he had caught a chill at an open-air picnic party in the grounds at Frogmore in celebration of the Queen’s birthday, and for a week or more he was confined to bed with a feverish cold and slight lung trouble. Once again public anxiety was aroused, When it was decided to postpone the service until yesterday. Many felt, indeed, that he could not withstand this fresh trouble following so closely on his weakening, serious illness. Happily, however, His Majesty’s constitution proved equal to the strain and last Monday he and the Queen made a triumphal journey back to London and Buckingham Palace. The whole route, particularly that part running through the ctiy, was lined by rcheering subjects, grateful for the fact that their beloved King was well again. They remembered it was he and his Royal spouse Who many, many times had visited them at their work, taken a personal interest in their trials and sufferings, and shown themselves always to 'be of the people rather than above them. Claudian said; “The realm, is ordered by the example of the King; nor do royal edicts appeal to the perceptions of men so much as the life of the ruler.”