Wilmington daily commercial., 1873-08-15
oueeu yIcsorla,s Fertaas.

uanaon corresnondenee N. Y. World
Ifr,on the s,,biect Of their private fortunes
ahe sovareieus of England, from Henry VIII to
Victoria, have always preserved curious retl-
oence and secrecy Not long ago gente1sh
want to Doctors Commons and, after rendering
the uanal fee demanded permission to examine
the wills Of all the Kings and Queens from ben.
w VIII down. He was told that not one OF
these wills were on file there, and they we're IN
the custody Of the Archbishop Of Canterbury.
The gentleman crossed the river to Lambeth,
found the Archbishop and made his request TO
him. But the Archbishop replied that ne was
not in possession Of any Of the wills, and had not
the slightest idea where they were: After the
death Of George l, when George II n.st recels 60
his Minister, the Archbishop OF Canterbury
nrodneed the will OF ths deceased monarch, but
George II instantly took the parchment and put
il into his pocket and nothing more was ever
heard of it, The willis OF all subjects must ps
proved and recorded at Doctors Commons; put
the will of an English sovereign is always hepss
secret. and whether its provisions are executed
or not seems to depend wholly on the pleasure
of his successor Now Prince Albert was not
sovereign, but his will has been Kept HecIet "
this day aud no one knows what 1t contained
The rumor is that the Prince LETT everything 70
her not to convert any of the property into mo-
new for the purpose Of giving the money TO the
Prince .of Wales That young gentleman, u
NAV be remembered, was in disgrace with ms
mana at the time OF the latter uooth
the death itself was the consequence OF cola
caught on a sudden journey to Oxford wmther
Prince Albert had been summoned in haste, 10
get his son out OF disgraceful and dangerous
scrape in which he was involved.
No one at the present day knows exactly WmAt VIA
ara the private estates Of the Queen. Ihe
estate of Balmoral and the Osborne estate are
known. and their value can be estimated out
there are in addition the Kensington estates
of (which no one but the Queen and her private
agents know anything. When the plan for the
Construction Of the South Kensington Museum
was firyt devised there were miles of unoceupied
land living around the spot chosen for the greai
collection of buildings now known as the Exhibi
ZION. the Museum and Albert Hall and there
we're other miles OF streets only partly bnilt' anc
having for the most part cheap and poor houses
upon them. little ring was formed-,Frihc'
| Albert. Mr. Dixie (afterward Sir Q. W.. Dllke)
and two or three others composed 1t, and by thu
rpg the greater part of the property was quietl!
| bonght up before the plan for the museum ETC.
/ was made public This was more than hfty year
/ ago. The whole of that region is now denseE
| covered with fine houses, and what cost enly
i few hundred thousands is now worth many mil
ions. Prince Albert's share OF this is now IN
property OF the Queen, and these =" hensingto
| estates are in themselves avery large fortune
/ Altogether, in money and in landed properly, I
say nothing OF the jewels, her majesty Is sup
| posed to possess something like t6,OOO, ,OOt
| while no one really knows how much she mas
and the amount may be ZIG, ,9O0, 0OO' or eve
ego, 600 for ought anyone can know TO ID
contrary.