ROYAL FAMILY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21575, 10 February 1940, Page 12

ROYAL FAMILY

HOUSEKEEPER RETIRES For thirty years Mrs S. Rawlings, as housekeeper to the King at Windsor Castle, has held the domestic secrets of the Royal Family. She retired recently, and as a reward for her services the King has given her a house in which to spend her retirement in the private grounds of Windsor Castle. Tliis is an honour no other servant has received since the days of Queen Victoria.

When Queen Mary began the task of making the huge rooms in the Castle more homely, she selected Mrs Rawlings as Royal housekeeper. For hours on end Queen Mary and Mrs Rawlings planned and replanned alterations and improvements, and when the Court was in London Queen Mary used to make it a rule to spend a day at Windsor once a month to continue the work. On these occasions she used to bring a picnic lunch which she shared with Mrs Rawlings in one of the State rooms. Mrs Rawlings saw the present King and his brothers grow up, and in their younger days she was a frequent visitor to the royal nursery. She has been playmate to Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret. When King George V was seriously ill at Windsor Mrs Rawlings was the only person allowed in the sick room apart from the Queen, doctors and nurses, and she always personally prepared and carried in all the meats to the patient. When Queen Elizabeth became mistress of Windsor Castle further modernisations were effected, and once more Mrs Rawlings carried out the different schemes.

Her last big job was to see that the Castle was effectively blacked out. The King told her that he held her responsible, and she bought hundreds of yards of curtains to cover up the thousand windows and yards of glass roofing. Before the King and Queen left Windsor they sent for Mrs Rawlings to bid her farewell. They told her that they would not say good-bye, as they would be dropping in for a cup of tea at her new home in the near future.