MY LADY NICOTINE.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume IX, Issue 662, 6 November 1902, Page 20

MY LADY NICOTINE.

It is stated that Air Akers Douglas; who was minister in attendance when the King was at . Balmoral recently, found a marked difference from the condition of affairs under the' late reign. Queen A z i<toria, had an ineradicable objection to smoking. No smoking-room was included / in the original structure of the castle, and indulgence in the weed w.ns of course fosbidden in any of the ordinary rooms! or passages. The only recourse was a', strnll. outside, not in any circumstances the best condition for enjoying a good cigar, and, in the sort of weather common in the neighbourhood of Biaemar in the late autumn, frequently impossible. Air Chamberlain’s plight in these circumstances is one over which no fellow-smoker possessing a heart likes >to dwell. An ex-Cabinet Af inis ter has declared that th<>re were in his time two ways of enjoying an afterdinner smoke at Balmoral. Both were available only when the Al mister’s bedroom door was locked. He had then choice of smoking up the chimney, or of furtively opening the window and smoking outside. Weired stories are current of embarrassing interruption of these pursuits. Two of the earliest operations carried out at Balmoral on the accession of Edward VIL were the fitting up of a smokingroom. and the removal of all relics of the late. .John Brown.