PILLARS of the KING'S

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 572, 26 January 1929, Page 26

PILLARS of the KING'S

UEEN MARY hates a natural that her mKt >)%7l private secretary. Sir Harry Lloyd Verney, should be one of the shrewdest men in England. He needs all his intelligence, as well as his industry, imagination and application, to cope with his duties. Everyone around the Queen is busy, for she generates energy like a dynamo and transmits it to all her entourage; but Sir Harry Verney is the most occupied of them all. He is always “on the spot,” he always knows, he is never at fault valuable assets in serving a lady who always wants things done “at once.” He possesses, too, that quick sense of humour which the Queen demands of her intimates. To hear her Majesty laugh is a revelation. It is a real ringing, hearty laugh, with no reservations or half measures about it. “When the Queen opens her mouth and laughs you know what a woman she is,” a Labour politician once said. “It’s the finest laugh I’ve heard for years, a laugh with leal joy in it.” Sir Harry attends on the Queen in the mornings, in her sitting-room at Buckingham Palace, or at Windsor, after she has breakfasted. He brings with him the letters not addressed to her Majesty personally, and she has her personal post ready for him to deal with. Perhaps there are several hundred letters, but they are quickly read and their answers arranged, in order that the real business of the morning may be begun. The Queen’s mind is omuiverous, all subjects and matters come alike to her, and the touchstone of her humanity transforms even the direct matter into a problem of life and happiness. Sir Harry must keep abreast with all her interests. He must be politician, economist, antiquary, relieving officer and raconteur, all in the space of half an hour. The Queen’s energy and intelligence are the most vital things at court to-day, and the Queen's secretary must keep them

Queen Mary’s Secretary Has By No Means An Easy Job

occupied, and working at full pressure. She hates idleness and slovenliness of mind, and Sir Harry must see that her business is executed with the maximum of dispatch and the minimum of fuss. Cavalier Ancestors Sir Harry was born 56 years ago, and comes of an ancient and distinguished family. One of his ancestors, most attractive of all King Charles’s cavaliers, fell in one of the battles of the Civil War, still clasping the royal standard, which he had counted it his highest honour to carry. Sir Harry was educated at Eton and then entered the diplomatic service as an honorary attache. Next he was assistant private secretary to the late . Marquess of Lansdowne, from whom he learned the precise and business-like methods which make him so invaluable in his present position. In 1905 he was appointed a gentleman usher to King Edward, and when King George ascended the throne he became a groom-in-waiting to his Majesty. The Queen appointed him as her right hand in 1919. His wife, Lady Joan Verney, a daughter of the late Earl of Desart,

is a woman of the bedchamber to the Queen, and one of her most trusted and faithful attendants. Thus the whole of Sir Harry’s life is bound up with that of her Majesty. His wife, no less than himself, is in daily contact with her; her pleasure and her business are the first and paramount interests of his whole existence. Apart from her public duties, one of the Queen’s principal interests lies in her many possessions, or rather in the palaces and their contents, of which she is trustee for the nation. The arrangement of furniture in each room is photographed, so that a permanent record of it may be kept. After any alteration has been made a new photograph must be taken. Dozens of great albums of such photographs, their indexing and their arrangement, similar volumes of Press cuttings, hundreds of family photograps, collections of data concerning each piece of china, each picture, each antique treasure of the Royal palaces all of these form one part (and only a small part) of the affairs in Sir Harry’s very capable hands. He acts as the Queen’s almoner, dispensing her unknown private

charities as well as the hundreds of annual subscriptions to institutions of which her Majesty is patron or president.

When the Queen attends any gatlx- j ering, large or small, Important or cb- j scure, she seems to display an uncanny knowledge of the personal his- ! tory of those she meets. How many men and women has she delighted by a reference to an absent son cr an inquiry for a sick child? How does she gather the necessary knowledge which inspires these questions? True, she possesses a retentive and wellstored memory, but that is not j enough. The answer lies in Sir f larry’s indefatigable inquiries. Quietly, but thoroughly, he finds out the circumstances and peculiarities of all those whom the Queen meets; he discovers that this mayor has recently lost his wife; that the grandmother of a certain child, lying sick in hospital, helped to make the Prince of Wales’s baby clothes. And so when her Majesty arrives she Is able to spread joy around her by just the right words to -the right persons. “It is vex-y simple,” Sir Hari-y would tell you with a deprecating smile. Certainly it is, but it is also very human, very understanding and charming. In fact, it is extremely difficult to picture the multitude and complexity of Sir Harry’s duties. Think of your own private and business affairs, reduce them to complete order and regularity, multiply them by a thousandfold, and continue to manage them smoothly and efficiently, without any appearance of being busy. When you have done all this you will have gathered a very good idea of what Sir Harry does every day. His is an attractive personality, so considei-ate, so courteous and so selfforgetful, yet not colourless because shot through with humour and a strong vein of individual taste. He is one of the most important unseen j cogs in the machinery of the British I Empire, as he sits at his desk, wrost--1 ling with strange epistles addressed !to “Mrs. Queen.” or “Madam Maj- ! esty,” or even “Mrs. England.”