Country Life Interests

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21230, 28 September 1940, Page 5

Country Life Interests

\ page devoted to the interests of the Country Women of the Waikato, and in particular to advancing and recording the activities of those Vwo great national organisations, the Women's Institutes and the Women's Division of the Farmers’ Union.

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN

In Wartime and in Peace

H°w does the First Lady in the Land face the appalling difficulties that confront a mother of children and a wife and a Queen —in wartime ? Like thousands of us, the Queen is the mother of two growing-up children; she is the wife of a busy, anxious man; she is sister, aunt and friend to a number of people involved in the stresses and strains of these difficult times and she is directly responsible, to her husband and to the nation, for the conduct of four enormous houses and one smaller country home. Like thousands of us. Queen Elizabeth was happy in her family life “ before the War the princesses were just growing up to their interesting “ teens ” and she and her husband were enjoying their peacetime work and play. Then this cataclysm swept away that steady happiness; and Queen Elizabeth, like other wives and mothers, had to face family life in wartime. To see how she is doing it, let us glance at a “ flash-back ” to her own girlhood. It was on August the fourth of 1914 that she celebrated her fourteenth birthday, and before 1918 came she had tasted to the full domestic worry, wartime work, personal loss. Glamis became a military hospital, and her elder brothers and sister were swept into the war. Women of today may remember the Queen has experience already of wartime weddings; her two brothers were married and one of them, Fergus, was killed at Loos. Later Michael Bowes Lyon was reported killed, and finally discovered as a prisoner in Germany. Disruption of Home Life And now. today ? The woman of forty, with her husband and her two daughters faces another war with this experience behind her; and she has faced the complete disruption of that dearly-prized home life of hers. You may, perhaps, lift an eyebrow at the use of the words “ home life” in connection with Royalty and palaces. It is not easy to make a home in a palace but Queen Elizabeth seems to have succeeded beyond any of her predecessors, by that same gentle determination that has characterised her whole life. Then the war came . . . the princesses are parted from their parents; away in relative safety. Father and mother are together, in London and working “ overtime ” these days; and it is up to Queen Elizabeth to keep that great London household running in smoothness under war-time conditions, upholding them all through worry and through uncertainty. Knows How to House-keep Now, it is nonsense tc pretend that any Royal Lady has time to do chores; she hasn’t! But most of them, these days, are taught to appreciate the work of those who do. In the case of Oueen Elizabeth, however, it is perfectly true to say that she actually knows what it is “ to housekeep ” her mother saw to that. Meanwhile, the Queen, ordering the affairs of the dav, is considering her luncheon ! The King and Queen rarely entertain any except Imperial representatives or similar visitors and their own family at luncheon. When King George came to the throne he established again the “ family luncheon ” taken in the Chinese room and consisting of never more than three courses and these of the utmost sim-plicity-simple roasts, vegetables in season, and the lightest possible sweets. When the innumerable household details are settled—and these include the selection of dinner menus, too, the Queen “ starts work ” for the day. She will meet her husband at luncheon unless either of them, or both, are out inspecting war workers and their work away from London; or, very rarely, they may both lunch with intimate friends. After lunch, more rarely still these days, if she can, the Queen likes a brief rest; luncheon is invariably at 1.15 and the next family “ date ” used to be “ five o’clock tea ” with the children after school. The Queen tells her friends that looking after her family is a whole-time job—as indeed it is; and those more intimate friends of the King and Queen who stay at Royal Lodge can bear witness that Queen Elizabeth is really happy there when “ the housekeeping ” is —as it were—under her own fingers. A Successful Homemaker “ Do the King and Queen ever have any ‘ off-time’? ” I was asked not long ; back; for, after all, most of us still get our once-a-week flicks ! The answer to that is that, like any other successful homemaker, Queen Elizabeth knows how to relax, and how to ensure quiet for her family. The King smokes, but not a great deal; the Queen allows smoking (though never at meals!) but hardly ever does so herself; both ofthem drink even less than their usual “ very little ” —these days; the Queen, if she takes anything at all, takes a cocktail, sherry or light white wine. Both of them really enjoy “going out”! We have heard of them at dances before the war, dining with friends, going to the theatre privately—and we can imagine them enjoying those family wartime reunions at home; lunches or teas or informal dinners. When they are alone “ of an evening,” sitting together in their carefully blacked-out room—a small drawing-room with comfortable chairs, a radio set. books and papers—husband and wife can, at last, relax; sometimes the Queen may sew, though there is not much time for sewing or knitting really—and there are the letters and news from the princesses to discuss. It has been a busy day (it nearly always has!) and about 11 o’clock the King and Queen will go to bed, rarely later. There is one final thought that strikes the ordinary housewife as she hears and reads about the Royal Family; during the years since we have known them well-—that is, since their marriage—neither the King nor the Queen has had any serious illness, or, indeed, anything in the way of health troubles, and neither of the princesses has ever been reported as suffering from anything more than a cold or a bruised knee.

If any further tribute were needed to successful home-making, here it is. Queen Elizabeth set out, some seventeen years back, to “ make a home ” for the King of England’s son; and she has most triumphantly succeeded.