PRIVATE LIFE OF ROYALTY.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3739, 10 July 1883, Page 4

PRIVATE LIFE OF ROYALTY.

An American lady who has been passing sonic time in a circle very close to the Crown in England, sends some curious and entertaining details of the private life of royalty to a friend iv this country. She writes : —

"The personal attendants of her Britannic Majesty have a pretty hard time of it." They are not so badly treated as poor Miss Burney avus avlicu she Avent into bondage as Second Keeper of the Robes to_ Queen Victoria's grandmother, but, "taking one consideration Avith another," their lot is nota happy one. The Hon. Horatia Stepford, a cousin of Earl Courtown, and one of the Q.uoen's bedchamber women, is tho Queen's favourite amanuensis, writingmost of her letters and taking down Avhatever she dictates, and as etiquette requires Miss Stopford to stand Avhilo thus engaged, she passes AA'hole hours sometimes Avriting at an upright desk Avhen her Majesty happens to be in an epistolary mood. On the recent confinement of the Duchess of Albany, the Queen, avlio took a very particular interest in the event, never sat doAvn once from nine in tho morning rill seven in the evening to tho intense weariness and disgust of the unlucky maids of honour in attendance. The mother of the Duchess of Albany, the Princess of Waldeck-Pyrmont, wan equally provoked, as she thought herself as much entitled as the Queen, if one may use such very loav language in such a very high connection, to " boss tho job ;" and the two mother-in-laws kept politely and persistently inviting one another to take a rest and let the poor Duchess enjoy a little quiet. AVhen it was all over, and a little Princess of Albany had come into the Avorld, it Avas the turn of the father. His Royal Highness the Duke of Albany, on being informed of the result, quite 'lost his temper and stamped on the floor with rage that tho child should not have been a Prince. As a general thing, however, the Duke of Albany gives less trouble to those about him than any of the royal family. His elder brother, tho Prince of AVales, exacts tho constant and assiduous attendance of his household, but he is personally considerate of them, and changes his equerries once a month in order to relieve the strain put on them. He never opens a book, or so much as glances at a noAvspaper, but his officers are all bright and clever, and keep him accurately informed of everything that is going on in politics and in society,—Ncav York World.