The Press., 1893-03-02
THE PRINCE AT THE PLAY.
how His Royal Highness Attends th'
 English Theaters.


 English Theaters.
 The royal box is booked in the usual way of business and charged to. the Marlborough house account. The price is not increased from the ordinary library tariff, and the stories told about a nomi- nal price or a larger one being peid by royalty only exist ill the imagination of the papers who invent such tarradiddles.
 Sometimes it happens that box can- not be got at the particular theater de- cided upon. When this is the case 1t is put nicely to the party who has booked the royal box if they could see their way to obliging his royal highness, and the result is of course invariably i'll the af- frmative. The prince, however, is very reluctant to have this done, and always wishes that the party obliging shall be as little inconvenieced as possible-so much so that when told that the box has been conceded he generally remarks: Why did you disturb anybody on my account? I could have come here an other evening. Please see they are thanked in my name." In the rare case of refusal representation is made to his royal highness, and they try for a box at another theater. .@''7 '' Y
 When he goes to theater it is his ex- pressed desire to be treated exactly the same as one of the ordinary audience. Little displays of flowers, bouquets, satin programmes, etc., are all very nice, but the prince does not care for them, and would much rather do with out them. Another thing which annoys him is that he should be drawn atten- tion to by the performance on his arrival of the national anthem or 'God Bless the Prince of Wales."
 As he said on one occasion, "Why should the amusement of every member of this audience be disturbed for my sake?' This was at the Olympia theater during the run of ''Fun on the Bristol. y As soon as the royal box became oce IT. pied everybody was astonished to see the orchestra suddenly stand up in the mid dle of the performance and begin play ing 'sGod Bless the Prince of Wales. y Of course the whole house rose en masse, every eye was directed to the royal box and the applause was deafen- ing. The prince immediately left the box and demanded an explanation MT Jarritt arrived and explained that. il was only the overzealousness of a toe patriotic band conductor. This con cluded the incident, but it was accepted as precedent, and the same intimated , to the managers generally. This is why you often hear people say in theate1 ] toward the close of the performance r "Why, there is the Prince of Wales over , l II. H1.ax- T God Save the Queen What shame!
 The prince always waits until the final curtain has descended before rising to leave. This is his invariable rule. Sc much so that he has sat out the entire : harlequinade of a Drury lane panto ] mime. There are three or four theaters l only where he ever breaks this rule a kThey are those houses which have nt I royal entrance, and here tic prince an T ticipates the final cur tain by two o1 three minutes, so that his departure vii
 not disturb the carriage traffic of the re . mainder of the audience.
 f Immediately the prince Is announced e to have visited a theater the booking V rises, barometerlike, to a good heat l. This is in reference to the looking pub
 lie, but beyond this when his roya Q highness likes play he invariably rec
 ommends it to all his friends. In man, ' other ways the prince is ylways think
 ing of the drama. When he sees bene
 fit announced for some we'll khowl l. artist who has often min istered to hi e amusement, or some poo} player .wlt t has fallen on bad times, hi immediatel. V puts his name down for sails or boxe '+ to substantial London Morn
 ing. .