QUEEN OF ENGLAND'S HEAVY TASK

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 65, 3 April 1937, Page 11

QUEEN OF ENGLAND'S HEAVY TASK

S^e Must Leam How Never To Be Alone. Her Eyes Must Learn How to Look Frank Without Seeing and They Must Not Know Tears

J BEMEMBER a gala performance at the Covent Garden Opera in London. All eyes were turned toward the royal box ' where Queen Mary made her appearance, amidst the awed silence which the idolatry of monarchy in general and the speeial reverence for" that beautiful, severe and dignified woman always command in .England, writes Germaine Beaumont. There was a woman with greyish hair, bright with the sparkle and glitter of the diamonds and sapphires of her tiara. A face without artifices, with the only makeup of its immovableness. A woman exempt from the necessity of obeying the whims of fashion and carrying on herself a burden of gems and costly fabries vhich would make the knees of any other women bend, her neck imprisoned in a stiff collar of nine rows of pearls, three more graded strands standing out against the whiteness of a still impeccable decollete, and a further strand of 150 priceless pearls falling down to the waist, outlined by the mounded princesse gown. A stupendous gown, the garment of . a fairy princess turned woman, of heavy brocade of the colour of an aquamarine and with the reflections of a glacier, a silvery flora of English roses, Scotch thistles and Irish shamrock imprisoned in its weaVO, with a train of pale blne waves with silvery chests and a form ofr .sequins; truly, the , etablem of the oceans ruled by Britannia. A tall woman without joy but with a certain grave suavity ln her features. The face of a woman wbo had borne six children, five of them spns. The face of a woman who has known - maternal worries and anxiety, a face reflecting deep Teligiousness and a sense of duty and the consciousness of the high value of its example. There stood a woman who never once in her life had stopped to obey her personal impulses, but had unconditionally and without reticence surrendered to the childish curiosity of her sixty-five million subjects; a woman made wise by many troubles but unspoiled by great happiness; a woman who had bowed to fate and, deaf to the beating of her own beart, had succeeded in converting a marriage contracted for dynastic reasons into a

shining example of marital affection and happiness. A woman who had curbed and silenced the natural vivacity of her temperament in homage to her august status and sacrificed her personality to the exigencies of the profession of queen. Was she loved? Not perhaps in the strict meaning of the word at the beginning of the war. But even then she was a symbol, a pillar, a leader of the Court, a daily lesson to the more emancipated elements of England 's aristocratic femininity and a model blindly copied by the best

elements of the bourgeoisie and the people, always majestic and commanding respect in spite of her great shyness, conquered only through self-discipline and a constant effort of the will. Tremendous, almost superhuman is the task of being Queen of England. So difficult is it that a child of ten years is already being trained for it. For the Queen of England must learn everything and at the eame time learn to forget everything. She

must learn how never to be alone. Her eyes must learn how to look frank without seeing, and they must not know tears. She must learn to sympathise with everybody's troubles except her own, ignore pain and sickness, resist fatigue, and submit . coolly and dispassionately to the ordeal and discomfort of official ceremonies. She must learn to mark the distance with abstract and affablo aloofness, and to be so infallible and imperturbable in the accomplishment of her- multiple duties, as to be the metronome beating the time for the nation. She must possess a marvellous memory for names without ever manifesting the - pieferenees of her heart. In a word she must learn how to be a model ..for all the women, without being a woman herself, how to turn a stage-effect into reality and reality into a stage-effect. It means, in short, not to live one's own life. The gems of the Queen of England are the most beautiful in Enrope. She can adorii her 'head with three historio crowns, two of which belonged io Mary of Modena, ■ the queen of James II. The third crown, worn by Queen Mary at her coronation, bears .the famous Koh-i-noor, tlie most celebratcd gem in the world. Among the crownjewels is the pearl necklace which Mary, Queen of Scotlan-cf, had brought wita • her from Erance and which Elizabeth bad bouglit for a . paltry 3,000 pounds. James I. gave it to his daughter when she married the Elector of the Bhenish Palatinate, but . it returned to England with George I. and became part of the Queen Victoria's crown treasure. The soeial status of the Queen of England is quite speeial. Her subjects of noble birth may call her "Madam," but to all others she is , "Your Majesty." Legally speaking, she is considered "feme sole," i.e., a single woman so far as the management of her property is concerned, contrary to all other snarried. women (f 'feme covert"). She cannot be sentenced'to pay fines, and is exempt from all toll-dues. But she can proseeute at law and be pTOse- - cuted nnder her own name to which is added the designation "Queen of England. '* To "devise" her death during the life of the king is high treason.