The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1897-12-19
.FADS OF ENGLAND'S QUEEN
Never Reads a Folded Letter, For
Instance.
HOW HER MAIL IS HANDLED
Vctoria's Servants Must Be comely-No One
May Use Her ColOrs- MarIborough's
Costly Mistake.
From the New York Press.

Many thousands OIL queen victoria s SUD-
jects who have addressed private letters to
her majesty and have never received a re-
ply have often wondered why they have
not. Since it is the right of every English
subject to address complaint any APP
peal to his sovereign when he has. suffi-
cient reason for doing so, 1t is not surpris-
ing that some wonderment and even Bit
terness, is experienced when, after a rea-
sonable time, an earnest appeal. marked
private" brings no reply whatsoever. But
whenever a letter of any nature addressed
to the queen remains unanswered 1t is due
to the fault of the subject and not of the
sovereign. And for the simple reason that
persons who are unaequainted with the
details or court etiquette do not take the
trouble when writing to the queen to IA
miiarize themselves with the requirements
covering such matters. Usually the letters
are properly addressed, and, as the writer
thinks, properly folded and dispatched
But in folding the letter is where the
fatal error is made, for the queen never.
under any circumstances, reads a folded
sheet of paper. If by any chance, or
through the Importance of a cause, a let
ter is handed 10 her majesty and the sheet
is folded, it is Immediately thrown to the
floor without even second glance. This
is not permitted to occur often, however,
for the mistress of the robes now looks
over all the queens letters, even after they
have passed through the hands of two pri-
vate secretaries before they are taken to
her majestys apartments
Kind of Stationery to Use
A sheet of thick white paper of ordinary
size, with envelope of same size, should be
used when writing to the queen. The color
does not matter so much, but as the royal
taste prefers white paper, of course 1t is
advisable that it should be used. The queen
is particular about these small matters,
and anything that she is pleased to regard
as royal prerogative must never be trified
with.
The queen does not put her letters into a
waste basket, as ordinary mortals do, but,
as soon as they are read, unless they need
to be preserved for some particular reason,
the letters are thrown on the floor at her
feet, and later are removed by a body SER
want.
Handling the Royal Mail
The royal mail is brought by special
courier to the palace at which her majesty
happens to be staying at the time. 1t is
taken first to the official secretary, who
has a high-sounding title and is a member
of the official household. From there that
portion of it marked private" is taken to
after he has examined it carefully and has
assured himself that nothing of an un-
pleasant nature is to reach the queen, he
turns it over to the Indian secretary, who
is the favorite with her majesty at present.
This dark-skined attendant scans each let
ter separately and when he is satisfied
that all is well he delivers them into the
hands of the mistress of the robes who,
in her turn, delivers them to the queen,
who, according to her humor, reads them
personally or commands her waiting wo-
man or the Indian secretary to do so for
her.
If important letters come when the queen
is out driving the secretary is commanded
to bring them to her, and, after reading
them. they are thrown to the ground, to be
gathered up by the secretary after she
has gone her way again.
Handsome Servants Necessity
In some things the qreen's taste is ex-
ceedingly simple and old fashioned, in 9TH
ers it is capricious and extravagant. For
instance, when the servants of the royal
household are engaged, each one, after be-
ing found satisfactory to the various func-
tionaries before whom they have to pass,
is commanded to enter the presence of
his august mistress and, even II he passes
all the qualifications necessary to royal
service and lacks that of an agreeable face
and figure, in other words, if he be not
good looking, he is Immediately dismissed.
Many a servant with a record without a
flaw, but who did not happen to possess a
comely face and figure, who has been sent
about his business by the queen, has been
taken up and in by both the Princess
Louise and the Prince of Wales, who, al
though they prefer good looking servants
to ugly ones, do not share their royal
mothers prejudice in this direction.
Queens Own Color.
Then the use of the royal colors, or the
particular shade of red or scarlet used by
the royal family is denied to all others.
There is not a tailor in England who would
dare to put the royal red into any garment
of any person other than a royalty, no
matter what the inducement might be.
No one is allowed to use carriages like
those used by the queen, and no one but
a royalty can have more than two out
riders. Members of the royal family are
entitled to four, but even the queen her.
self does not have more than two except
on state occasions, when her eight milk
white ponies have man at each head.
year ago the young Duke of Marlbor-
ough, when ordering new livery for his
servants and trappings for his horses and
carriages, happened to hit upon shade of
crimson which just suited his fancy. He
arranged to have it used, and sent to Italy
the only place where 1t could be had
at a considerable expense to get the cloth.
Marlborough Couldn't Use 1t
AS it was not the color of the royal liv-
cry, the firm executing the dukes orders
did not know that it was tresspassing upon
a royal prerogative. And not until nearly
all the material had been made up was
the duke notified officially that he was
using the particular shade of crimson
worn by the queen, and as 1t could not be
used outside the royal family without a
license from her majesty the color would
have to be exchanged for another. Con-
sequently the Marlborough servants are
wearing another shade of crimson and the
Marlborough exchequer is lighter by many
hundreds of pounds.
Even the number of footmen peer may
have is regulated by royal license. The
Duke of Marlborough is entitled to two,
but the Marlborough carriage is rarely
seen with more than one. The Prince of
Wales carriage is rarely ever seen with
more than two footmen, and outriders are
never used by him except on some state
or gala occasion.
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