KING'S SURPRISE VISIT

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 659, 10 May 1929, Page 9

KING'S SURPRISE VISIT

UNEXPECTEDLY CALLS AT SANATORIUM “I AM FEELING VERY FIT” (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) (United Service) LONDON, Wednesday. After luncheon at Craigweil House, Bognor, today. King George suddenly made up his mind to venture further abroad than he had done for months. Accompanied by Princess Victoria, he motored 15 miles along the picturesque Sussex lanes. His Majesty paid a surprise visit to the King Edward Sanatorium, at Midhurst, which his late father founded in 1907. The saloon car was driven to the door of the institution, and the King and Princess stepped out and rang the bell. Within a few minutes his Majesty was greeting the most astounded man in the world, Dr. Jupe, a libspital assistant, who subsequently said that he could not believe his eyes. The King, saying he wanted to see if the patients looked as happy, as did those he had seen there in 1917, toured the sanatorium. He stopped at the bedsides of several patients, smiling and chatting with them cheerfully. ' To one man his Majesty said: “I am sorry you have been ill so long. I know what illness is, and I sympathise with you, and hope your recovery will he as good a one as mine.” The King stayed in the institution three-quarters of an hour. Dr. Jupe said the sanatorium authorities greatly appreciated receiving his Majesty’s first semi-official visit after his illness. The Royal visitor looked remarkably fit, and not like a man who had suffered so long and serious an illness. His Majesty bad discarded his stick, and walked unaided. He said: “X am feeling very fit, and am well enough to do a great deal more than I am allowed to do.”