NATIONAL ADJECTIVE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 296, 14 December 1931, Page 1

NATIONAL ADJECTIVE.

Princes Laughed, but Queen Did not Relax. LONDON, December 4. A quarter of a century or so ago George Bernard Shaw placed in the mouth of Mrs Patrick Campbell an adjective which was supposed not to be uttered in polite society, much less on the public stage. But he got away with it—perhaps because he was Shaw. Nowadays the stage is much less squeamish, but Mr Noel Coward must have wondered how the Royal Family would take the incident in “ Cavalcade,” in which a soldier, returned from the relief of Mafeking. is asked by his wife where South Africa is. “ Oh, I don’t know,” he replies, u but wherever it is its hot! ” Everybody glanced towards the Royal box. The King apparently had not quite caught the expletive, and the Duchess of York leaned over and whispered it to him. The King smiled slightly. But the Prince of Wales and his brothers laughed outright, and even the Duchess seemed amused. The Queen’s face never relaxed. Perhaps she felt like Queen Victoria when on an historic occasion she said in her stateliest fashion, “We are not amused.”