Smyrna times., 1893-02-15
THE PRINCE At THE. PLAY: :
How His Royal Highness Attends the
English Theaters

THE PRINCE At THE, Play :
How His Royal Highness Attends the
English Theaters.
The royal box is booked in the usuaI
way of business and charged to the
Marlborough house account. The prjca
is not increased from the ordinary library
tariff, and the stories told about a nomi-
nal price or larger one being paid bv
royalty only exist in 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 it is
put nicely to the party who has booked
the royal box if they could see their way
TO obiging his royal highness, and the
result is of course invariably in the af-
firmative. 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? l could have come here an
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.
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-
ton to by the performance on his arrival
OF the national anthem or God Bless
the Prince of Wales"
AS he said on one occasion. "Whv
Should the amusement of every member
OF this audience be disturbed for NV
sake?' This was at the Olympia theater
during the run Of Fun on the Bristol"
AS soon as the royal box became ocou-
pied everybody was astonished to see the
orchestra suddenly stand up in the mid
die OF the performance and begin play
ing "God Bless the Prince of Wales"
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. Mr..
Jarritt arrived and explained that it
was only the Overzealousness of a too
patriotic band conductor. This con-
cluded the incident, but it was accented
as precedent, and the same intimated
to the managers generally. This is why
you often hear people say in a theater
toward the close Of the performance:
'Why, there is the Prince of Wales over
there in box, and they never PLAYED
God Save the Queen. What a shamev
The prince always waits until the
final curtain has descended before rising
to leave. This is his invariable rule. So
much so that he has sat out the entire
harlequinade Of u Drurv lane panto-
mime. There are three or four theaters
only where he ever breaks this rule.
They are those houses which have no
royal entrance, and here the prince an
ticipates the final curtain by two or
three minutes, so that his departure will
not disturb the carriage traffic OF the re-
of the audience.
Immediately the prince is announced
to have visited a theater the BOOKING
rises, barometerlike, to a good heat,
This is in reference to the booking pub-
lie, but beyond this when his roval
highness likes play he invariably rec
ommends 1t to all his friends. In MANY
other ways the prince is always think
ing Of the drama. When he sees a bene-
tit announced for some well known
artist who has often ministered to his
amusement, or some poor player who
has fallen on bad times, he Immediately
puts his name down for stalls or boxes
to asubstantial amount,-London Morn
ing.