AFFECTION UNITED THE ROYAL FAMILY DURING THE CRISIS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 94, 7 May 1937, Page 24 (Supplement)

AFFECTION UNITED THE ROYAL FAMILY DURING THE CRISIS

' The abdication of King Edward was |n itself such ian astounding event that few of us had time, iii tlie emotion of ihe mom.ent, to realise what now standa oat as perhaps the most impressive fhing about those anxious days. They showed as never before how united is fhe British Boyal Family— united in the domestic sense, and Tinited also in tlie service of tlie Empire. Becall what happened. A King Itepped down voluntarily from Ms throne. (We need not here diseuss tlie rights and wrongs of his action). He gave np liis crown to his friend and ibrother. His last written words as tyir>g were a scribbled note to the jprime Minister, asking Parliament and the Empire to welcome the new ALOnarch. His last spoken words, in that memorablo broadcast before he leffc the shores of England, wero: ** And now we all have the new King. I wish hi-m and you, his people, happijiess "nd prosperity with all my heart. jGod bless you all. God- save the JEing." Just "before this broadcast ex-King jEdward sat down to his last dinner in England. His host and hostess at ^Windsor Boyal Lodge were the new •King and Queen. Beside him sat his mother, Queen Mary; and at the same gtable his bxothers, the Dukes ot j&loucester and Kent, his sister, the princesB Boyal; and Princess Alico Countess of Athlone and the Earl o± lAthlone. It was a family farewell before the Empire farewelL Queen JSliz&betb ehose the menu for Ihe dinXier, selecting all her brother-in-law's , favourite dishes ■ The new. King's first public act was to confer the Bukedom of Windsor on Jiiu predecessor. His first words on jneeting his Ministers nest day were to express his grief at the loss of his fccother.-' £11 these things xeflect the unity and golidarity of the Boyal Family. To xealise just how remarkable these qualities are one need but try to imagine some comparable upheaval in any private family. Would its members nhow the same mutual affection tand xespeet? Would they show tho same eonsciousness of duty tTanscending grief and personal feelings? The fonndations of this mutual affection were laid in childhood. More than most families the young princes *nd their sister had to depend upon cne another for companionship. None of them went to schooL .They shared the same governesses and tutors and they played their games together. Because of the barrier between Eoyalty and the rest of the world — € barrier which has now been largely broken down — they had few friends apart from each other. They had before them always tho fcighest ideals of family life, Boyal idignily and public service in the example of their mother and father, King G-eorge and Queen Mary. Another guiding light of their early years was King Edward — "Grandfather , Marlborough,' ' as he was' always called because Marlborough House was for so long his home. With his gay and tolerant chaxacter, he was "to them more like a friend than a grandfather or a King. It was from him that they got their first glimpses of the wider world outside the Court circle. though •ven King Edward little dreamed how awif tly the Victorian tradition of aloofness was to pass, and how ' ' democratic" his grandchildren were to become. As in most large families, the Boyal children divided themselves naturally int'o two groups. The three eldest — the Prince of Wales (now . Duke of Windsor), Prince AlbeTt (now King) and Princess Mary (now Princess Boyal) — were companions in the TOugh

and-tumble of games in nursery and garden. Prince Henry and Prince George (now Dukes of Gloucester and Kent) -were "babies" left to play alone. The war emphasized this division. The three eldest played their several parts in. the great struggle. The Prince of Wales, an undergraduate at Oxford "vvhen 'war broko out, was at length permittcd, after rnuch pleading, to face the dangers of service in France. Prince Albert had chosen a'naval career; and though he was invalided out of the Niavy after Jutland, he continued his service as an airman. Their sister, Princess Mary, became a Eed Cross Hurse. Prince Henry was fourteen and Prince George twelve when war broke out. They were old enough to know what wa? going on around them, but too young to take any share in tho service of the eountry. What of this Boyal Family to-day? Of the eldest son. little need be said here. The Prince of Wales 's long years of service to the Empire will never be forgotten. and he left that service with manliness and dignity. The last days of his short reign showed that he had not lost the love of his family} and neither will he lose that of the peoples who once owed him allegiance. The King's second brother, the Duke of Gloucester, has been called unexpectedly to a position of responsibility. He is, in a sense, His Majesty's "deputy." This is no sinecure, for the King's health is not as robust as could be wished, and in order to husband his strength for the tiring Coronation ceremonies the Duke of Gloucester has been taking on many of the duties •which his brother would otherwise have performed. In spito of his extensive Empire tours, the Duke of Gloucester is perhaps less well known than any Of his brothers. He is reserved by nature, and has no liking for pubiic ceremonial. That is a measure of the great sacr'ifice .he made in coniing to his brother's side. He had set his heart on a mili-. tary career, and he would have made an able Staff officer. The Princess Boyal is also littlo known outside the circle of her family and friends. it is difficult to-day to think of her as the "tomboy" who joined in — and often led — the 'games and pranks of the Boyal children. But she laughs as merrily as anyone when she is reminded, for instance, of the evening when she and her two elder brothers crept from bed to the balcony oi the Palace ballroom and squeezed wet sponges over the hea^s of the guests below. She likes to remember, also, the "Ascot Bicycle Stakes" m which she raced with her brothers on the lawns at Windsor. Between the eldest and the youngest of the Boyal brothers there exists an especially close friendship. It was hot until after the war that the Prince ot Wales and Prince George (more than eight years his junior) really got to know one another. They were constantly together, sharing the same love of theatre-going and dancing and young companionship. The Duke of Kent's marriage to Princess Marina, a longstanding friend of both, forged another link botween the brothers. For the Duke of Kent, as for the Duke of Gloucester, the abdication meant a call to heavier public service — service which he is now performing With tho same devotion. Thus the Boyal Family, people of such diverse tastes and character, are united by bonds of affection for one another and for their noble mother. They ure united no less by a common readiness to saerifice private inclmations and pleasures at the call of duty.