The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-11-27
THE DUTIES OF A QUEEN
EngIand's Sovereign True Hard
Working Woman.
HER INTERESTING ROUTINE IN
TERMINGLED WITH CHARITY.
Account of How Victoria r.. and 1.
Spends the Day and Finds 1t Done
Before Its Duties Are Finished.

hardly realizes, indeed, how much work
| devolves daily on her. Roughly speak
ing, she signs about $4,000 documents a
year, and many of these require care
| full consideration before "Vicsoria R.
and L. is subscribed. Statesmen have
borne testimony again and again TO
the remarkable knowledge possessed by
the queen of the various matters con-
corning which she is consulted. She
will surprise a cabinet minister by a
quiet reference to d precedent dating
80 or 40 years ago, or she will settle
a delicate point of etiquette by rem
lniScence of some state ceremonial
which most people would have for
gotten. She is essentially business
like sovereign, unlike several of her
predecessors and not a few of her con-
temporaries. And to achieve so much
the queen insists on other people being
equally regardful of time and temper
No Official letter will she read which
IS not submitted TO her unfolded and
without creaSeS. All her correspondence
is conducted on invariable lines, and
any deviations therefrom are unfavor-
ably regarded.
The queens private letters number
many hundreds every year. She writes
currente calamO to her numerous rela-
ttves, forgetting no anniversary or
occasion on which a letter might be
welcome. To the younger members of
the royal family she never fails to send
blrthgifts, accompanied by a few low
ing words of greeting. Every day the
birthday book is consulted-not that
birthday book in which singers, actors,
ana other personageS are asked to
write, but that smaller volume re-
served for relatives and intimates
InGn there 1oft Of q
semi private nature which are written
by the queen herself-letters of con-
dolence, letters of congratulation to
brides who have been connected with
the court, letters TO foreign monarchs.
Besides all these epistles, written in
the blacklist of ink on paper slightly
edged with black, there are thousands
which are penned by the private sec
rotary and his assistants. The late Sir
Henry Ponsonby was so conscientious
in this respect that there is little doubt
that he FASTENED his end by overwork
Orten he would himself write formal
letters of inquiry as to the safe return
of an actor or singer who had per-
formed before the queen. or he would
send an order in the queens name for
goods-labor which might well have
been deputed to a less busy man. Sir
Henry regarded nothing too trivial If
1t was command from the queen. and
the writer has seen many letters IN
his firm calligraphy asking, for in
stance, for the attendance of some
artist, or replying, with Old World
courtesy, 10 an impossible request for
her majesty's autograph. And many
of these letters were submitted to the
queen for approval
Then the demands on the oueen's
time for the reception of distinguished
visitors and officials have grown rather
than leSSened with advancing years
There are not only ministers of state
seeking interviews, but bishops, presi-
dents of different institutions. military
and naval officers who have to be in
troduced, court officials with pro-
grammes of state functions, and many
other calls upon the queens patience
Honors have to be conferred upon dis
tingUished men. with whom usually
her majesty manages to converse for a
brief while. or there are those who
have achieved some brave deed to be
complimented personally. And no one
comes away without feeling that the
queen has been individually interested
in his or her career When Miss
Booker, the only woman saved from
the terrible wreck of the Elbe was in
vited to tell her thrilling story, the
queen spent half an hour with the
young German girl and left an I'M
forgetdble impression upon that brave
survivor from the perils of the sea-
How many people the queen has thus
honored in the course of her reign. and
yet not one of them would say that
her majesty's interest Waned for a
moment during the interview.
Busy as the queen is-she is never
off duty. even on her holidays-she has
a quick memory for all that concerns
her personal servants. One of the
women who had been in the royal
household for some years told the
queen that she wished to leave as she
was engaged to be married Her ma
jesty asked her to remain as long as
ever she could, and then just before the
wedding she sent for her. Placing
bracelet upon her wrist, the queen
locked ii with a key, which she re-
tanned, thus symbolizing her never
ceasing interest in the servant. There
is no doubt that the queen has Gull
tivated the art of gratitude all her life
The touching tributes to deceased
servants, which have often appeared
in the Court Circular have been
usually written by the queen. She
has for many years exercised a per-
sonal influence over the Court Circu-
lar, and carefully revises the proofs
relating to important functions. In
my possession is a page of the queens
copy, and very neat it looks Her
majesty rarely needs to make vital
corrections in her writings, as those
letters which have been reproduced in
fac smile show. In the case of the
letter to the late Miss Gordon, sister
of General Gordon, the queen hardly
altered a word throughout the two
sheets of sympathetic references to the
general. Her autograph has consider
ably altered lately, the formation of the
letters being less careful than ii used
to be-
The queens day begins early and
ends late. After breakfast, a meal
which she still enjoys eating in the
open air when possible, there are the
newspapers and private correspond
ence claiming attention. With regard
to the former, portions of the Times
and other journals are read aloud TO
the queen by a lady specially ap-
pointed for this purpose 1t may be
interesting to recall that Mrs Bancroft
attributes her excellent elocution to
the early training she received as
queens reader Very rarely does the
queen comment on the news, except in
the case of calamity, when her SYM
pathy is quickly expressed in a tele-
gram. Inaccuracy in ar important
newspaper as to royal matters gives
the queen grave annoyance, and the
writer has known an official to call
and complain of the misstatement and
demand a rectification. Not long ago
which her majesty was represented as
holding the arm of her Indian attend
ant. Within a short space of time a
a n he