Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1878-07-03

the maintenance OF the royal yachts
or any of half q dozen other impor.
tant items which are strictly part OF
the expenses of royalty in England
Allowances to other members Of the
royal family are also additional items
ain fact" as an English author says,
"if all the expenses Incidental to "the
honor and dignity of the Crown
could be ascertained, it would be
found that the 1856, 600 annually
settled by Parliament upon her
Majesty constitutes but very small
portion of the actual cost Of royal
ty."
An enumeration of the officers at
tached to the royal household and the
duties of those officers, reads like
chapter from the "Arabian Nights, "
or the dramatis persona of q Convent
Garden pantomime. A few Of these
officers are useful; some render SER
vices that are quite useless; and a
large number receive pay without
performing any services whatever.
The Lord Steward, Earl Beauchamp,
nominally has tremendous duties and
responsibilities really, nearly all the
duties Of the Office are performed by
the Master of the Household, and the
Lord Steward receives his $4,000 a
year merely for attendance at Court
on great state occasions. The Treas
urer is supposed to be kind of dep
uty for the Lord Steward in the alb
sence Of the latter. Lord Henry
Thyme. M. p, performs the heavy
n ~ No of The Aano ,kp,an< u;o ob;of
has no actual duties, and hence the
deputy helps him to do nothing, and
receives $500 for his assistance
Lord Henry Somerset, as Comptroller
of the Household, receives the same
salary as the Treasurer, and is sup
posed to examine and check the ac-
counts Of the Lord Stewards depart
ment. His duties are next to moth
ing. The Master of the Household,
Col. Sir j. q. Cowell, performs, or
may perform, the duties of the three
officers Just named. His salary is $5,-
100, and it is his privilege to dine at
the Queens table. Two secretaries.
three clerks, paymaster, an Office
keeper, two messengers, ETC., help the
Master Of the Household in his du-
ties. Hence his heavy duties really
dwindle down to counting his salary
and eating at the Queens table. The
gentleman OF the wine and beer eel
lars selects and purchases wines for
the royal household, superintend-
ing their decanting, and sends them
up to the table. Salary, $500.
The Lord Chamberlain is at the
hnn nf - ~ hn
ary is $4,000, and it is now filled by
the Marquis of HertfOrd. The du-
ties are such as are commonly per-
formed by mere clerks or servants,
and there are few of them to which
q Marquis would put his hand. The
Keeper of Her Majesty's Privy Purse,
Sir Thomas Biddulph, receives $lO,-
600, and his principal duty is suppos-
ed to be the signing Of checks on the
Queens bankers. A secretary with
good salary ASSISTS him in his arduous
duties.
The Duchess of Wellington, AS
Mistress of the Robes, has $500 q
year. Her duties are about as imag-
mary as anything could be. Eight
ladies of the bedchamber receive
$500 each. They rotate in the du-
ties of the position, only one being on
duty at any one time. Hence, each
gives between six and seven weeks
service per year. Duchesses and
Countesses figure among them, yet
the duties, though light they are, do
not really differ from those of domes.
tic servants. An English newspaper
be ~ olS ~
Eight Maids of Honor also attend the
Queen, two and two, a. companions,
and for about three months service
each receives 81, 500 per year. Eight
Lords in waiting give an attendance
of a little more than six weeks q year
each, at a salary of $3.50. Their du-
ties are absolutely nothing, and even
their attendance is probably not re-
quired. All of them are Lords
Eight GroOms in waiting, with sals-
ries of $3.50 each, give similar at
tendance, and have duties just about
as real. Alfred Tennyson, as poet
laureate, is expected to compose eulo-
CYSTIC odes twice a year regularly
and on any extraordinary occasion o.
needed. Salary $500.
The Master of the Tennis Court,
the Hon. w. Beresford, M. r., re.
ceives the pittance of $500 for his year
ly labors. No one plays tennis, and
there is no court to play it in. He
has not the merest shadow Of a duty
to perform. The Master of the house,
the Earl of Bradford, receives $l2, 500.
He has also the privilege Of employ
ing ia his own service and in his own
domestic establishment, one coach.
man, four footmen and six grooms,
all wearing her Majesty's livery and
at the public expense. Nominally he
has control Of the royal stables and
horses and of all persons employed
in the department of which he is the
head. In this, as in most other cases,
the noble Earl deputies his duties to
subordinates and contents himself
with doing little more than drawing
his salary and distributing his pat.
ronage, which is large. The Chief
Eluerry, Maj. Gen. Lord Alfred Pag.
ct, has 5000 year, and Equerriei
in Ordinary have salaries ranging
from $3.50 to $3.50 each. Most OF
them are generals and none hold
lower rank than lieutenant colonel
None are much more useful than 9
fifth wheel to wagon.
The Master of Buckhounds-an
Earl, with $500 year-has very lit.
tie more to do than appoint the sub.
ordinates who have the actual care OF
the hounds. Her Majesty never
hunts, yet this department costs $40,
600 year. The Duke Of st. Albans
as Hereditary Grand Falconer, hal
$1,000. The Queen has never possess.
ed q single hawk. As keeper of tht
royal dragons or mastodons, his du-
ties would be quite as real as now
Connected with the household of tht
Lord lieutenant of Ireland are two
men called Gentlemen at Large, thu
name would express what they sub
stantislly are. They are simply per
sons who draw large salaries an(
have little or no work to do. In all
there are between 900 and 1000 per
sons connected with her Majesty
household.
1t would be wrong to blame tn,
Queen individually with any grea
part of the responsibility Of this ab
/ suIu 0uu cApChoiSC uouSCuOlus H II
a creature Of the British aristocracy
as q whole, and the Queen is only I
central figure of the system which tn,
country has built. / may add tha
the Queen also has . large private
fortune, from which it is estimated
she realizes an income of no less thar
81, 100000 year in addition to tn,
amount paid her by the nation.
The allowances to the Royal Fami
ly, not including the Queen, amour
to $785,OOO yearly. The revenue o.
the Prince Of Wales from the Duchy
of Cornwall--sbout $35O,OOO annual
Ily-is not included in this sum-
Summing up the leading items Of tn,
annual cost Of royalty in England
we have total of $3,O64, ,430. If al
the items could be ascertained the to-
tai given would be found to be no
more than one half the direct annua
cost of royalty in England.
j A MODEL LOVE LETTER.
ii The following epistle was writer
!. NV an OnandaiUa lOvar IN tho Unhiac