Yuletide With Royal Residences

Waikato Times, Volume 118, Issue 19762, 18 December 1935, Page 17 (Supplement)

Yuletide With Royal Residences

{By Angela Fitzroy.)

FOR three hundred and sixty four days in the year we think of His Majesty as King.' On the remaining day we think of him as the head of a great and widespread family. During the past few years His Majesty’s position, both privately and publicly, as a father, has been made strikingly evident by the broadcast which has been sent out each Christmas Day from the quiet and homely atmosphere of Sandringham. These broadcasts have been heard, with touching devotion and appreciation, by many millions of loyal subjects and well-wishers throughout the Empire, and in fact, throughout every country of the world where the English language is spoken and understood. The social changes of the past few years have left Christmas—as it always was, and always will be—the season of the year when families re-unite or when, if that is no! possible, in the flesh, members of families scattered throughout the world think, perhaps more than at any other time, of home —and those that dwell therein.. This “side” of the Christmas season is common to all. The rich man, and the poor man, each according to his position and ability, tries to maintain that “spirit” which means so much. Everybody looks forward, with eager anticipation—young and old alike—to the coming of Christmas, but probably it is certain that our delight is no greater than that of the Royal family. For month after month its various members loyally and whole-heartedly perform their public duties, and at times the strain is great. Christmas frees them from all engagements, and then, for two or three days, the members of the King’s family are able to reunite. Last Christmas the King and Queen had the added joy of welcoming to the family hearth Princess Marina, the bride of their youngest son, Prince George—now the Duke of Kent. This year they will have the joy of welcoming that happy couple’s babe, and also the former Alice Scott, now wife of the Duke of Gloucester. / No Pomp or Pageantry. The King and Queen regard Sandringham with special affection for it is their private home. No pomp of palace or pageantry is associated with it, for it is only natural that on such occasions as Christmas they should wish to break away from all cares of State, and live as ordinary individuals. There the King becomes a country gentleman, taking an interest m his estate, and on Christmas morning he attends Divine service in the beautiful little church across the park, walking to it when the weather is propitiods. His Majesty always enjoys a walk on the estate, accompanied by some of his sons, at some time during the morning.

Nowhere are England’s old-time Yuletide customs more faithfully kept up than at Sandringham. A spirit of good-will and good cheer pervades the whole place. The Christmas log is much in evidence, and holly and mistletoe adorn the various rooms, the Queen herself taking a keen interest and helping in the decorations. The Prince of Wales, later King Edward, purchased Sandringham about 75 years ago, paying nearly a quarter of a million for it. Some years later a beautiful ball-room was added, and every Christmas a giant tree is installed there, which is loaded with presents. The tree has been exceedingly popular in recent years, since the arrival of the King's grandchildren.

The routine at Sandringham on Christmas Day follows practically the same traditional custom, and it is marked by happy informality and lack of stiffness. In addition to the Royal Family there are only a few close friends, and Christmas Day begins with a happy reunion at breakfast, a meal at which His Majesty likes everybody to be present. Afterwards comes the simple service in church, where the ancient carols we all know so well are sung with heartiness. Many of the estate workers gather to this, and at some time during the day the King and Queen receive all of them in the house, and each is presented with some gift from them, and oite of their Majesties' Christmas cards. Then, in accordance with venerable custom, one of the servants, deputed for the task, hands to their Majesties a gift, as a token of their affection and loyalty. This is subscribed for by the workers on the estates, and the household servants, at Sandringham, Windsoi-, and Buckingham Palace.

Simple Informality the Rule.

The afternoon is spent informally, with pleasant talks and simple recreation as its chief characteristics, the only break being that notable five minutes during which the King addressed the mightiest audience ever spoken to by one man. The great event of the early part of the evening, of course, is the Christmas dinner. During this again simpld informality is the rule, tjn l-ecent years the King and Queen have made a point of selecting foods produced from the Empire for the dinner. The turkeys eaten in the Royal household, for instance, come from the King’s own Sandringham farms, and all the ingredients of the plum pudding and mince pies, including raisins, currants, sultanas, candied peel, and fruit for the desert, come from Empire sources. In passing it is interesting to note that it is said the recipe for the pudding seiwed at the Royal table has never varied since the time of George I. Here is a typical menu for a Royal Christmas dinner, one chosen by their Majesties not long back: Clear soup, fried fillets of sole, braised York ham with spinach, roast Norfolk turkeys (stuffed) and chestnuts, lettuce salad, cauliflower souffle, pium pudding, xnince pies. The dining room is one of the most beautiful apartments in the house, being panelled in dark oak.

At some period during the evening there is an exchange of presents between the members of the Royal party, although the children generally have this earlier. After dinner some of the members of the Royal Family visit the servants’ hall, where dancing is the order of the hour. The servants are not forgotten at the hour of dinner, for they are provided with ample supplies of turkey and plum pudding. One of the most popular features of the Sandringham Christmas is the Christmas tree, from which presents are distributed to the families on the estate. It is considered a great honour to be handed the gifts by the members of the Royal Family, even the King’s little grandchildren, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret Rose, helping. Quiet family enjoyments of this type are typical of Ilis Majesty's Christmas, and, like ourselves, the Royal Family finds that all too soon the call of duty comes to take them back to the busy world again.

at an even later date placed great faith in it as a cure for convulsions. But it has long ago fallen into medical disrepute, except in one or two places on the Continent. In Holstein it is still considered an infallible remedy for green wounds, and also a sure talisman for success in the chase. —V.M.H., in the Glasgow Weekly Herald.