The San Francisco call., 1897-08-15
ENGLAND'S QUEEN AT HOME.

PRIVATE LIFE OF THE oUEEN-By a Mem
Der of the Royal Household. New y Nork: D. A p
pieton d Co. For sale in this CITY by W lillam
DoNey Palace Hotel Price 81 So
Somewhat of q curiosity is this detailed
record of the life of her Majesty Queen Victo-
ria, ana While the book is scarcely deserving
! of praise as literary production il acquires
! importance. in spite of its crudity, from the
great sovereign whose private life the author
has had the opportunity to closely observe.
To most Americans Victoria is a venerable
figure whose character, both as a woman and
! as ruler, has been on the whole admirable
and they Will be pleased to be told some OF the
minor facts as 10 how she spends her days in
| that exalted position; while those Americans
| who are most rabid in their dislike OF royalty
/ would probably admit that an old lady with
an income of several million dollars a year and
| in possession of grand palaces is a character
/ OF considerable pubic interest," aside from the
! TACT OF being queen.
/ 1t might be guessed that the member OF the
/ royal household who wrote the book is one of
I the maids of honor, although we are told
/ therein that these maids are strictly prohibit
/ d from talking of the Queens private lie.
! There is an amount of seemingly unconscious
/ adulation which TO hose who are not subjects
appears slightly absurd. Much OF the volume
/ is made tedious by the dragging in of the most
| inconsequent details. There is no attempt to
! treat any of the important historic incidents
OF the reign, and the author announces, "My
J concern is merely with the petty personal de-
tails OF the greatest woman of her time"
Among the more or less interesting things
related in the book is one illustrative of the
plain, unpretentious style in which her Ma
I jesty dresses in her private life One day as she
was inspecting her stables a newly appointed
! equerry saw her and called out, "My good
woman, you must get out OF this. Strangers
/ are not allowed here" In a chapter describ-
ing the Queen as hostess, we are told tn at
visiting Kings ana Emperors are always
greeted by Victoria with first deep reverence
and then a kiss, and this ceremony is repeated
on their departure.
pretty sentiment of the Empress is ex-
pressed in pretty way when, in describing
Windsor Palace and the especial treasures
! kept therein, the writer says that the resting
! place OF the Koh-i-noor is in the grand corri-
dor. But more than the big diamond, the
silver and the gold and the rare china does
her Ma jesty prize the plain Bible, bound in
/ limp leather, that belonged 10 her faithful
servant, General Gordon But how odd to
epubicans, born and bred, sounds the
preston, her faithful servant" We can
think of the hero Gordon being the faithful
servant OF En- and. but not of the sovereign.
Perhaps it makes little difference, for, by
sort OF dction acquiesced in by the maj jority OF
Englishmen, Victoria is the state. Neverthe-
/ less TO US the form of expression still rings
with something OF the old arrogance ofroyalty
which was once so boldly assumed and tersely
expressed IN Louis XlY's famous remark,
THE state-it is l.
An odd piece of gossip is this: "From the
hour of her accession the cold formalities OF
state and the necessary restraint that lies be-
tween sovereign and subject separated the
Queen and her mother" This independent
attitude oveTwhe med the Duchess of Kent
with vexation and disappointment.
story is told OF Victoria which proves that,
at least in her younger days, her being
sovereign dit not interfere with her being also
very much OF woman. The first propos ed
change OF Ministry after her accession was
headed by Sir Robert Peel, and in accord with
! custom an attempt was made to replace the
| Wing ladies who surrounded the Queens
! person with others of more Tory tendencies
The young Queen pluckily refused 10 part
with her old fayorites. The great Duke of
! yelling ton used all his influence and POWERS
! OF persuasion unGvaiingly on the perverse
| girl The matter deemed Of such vital
/ importance that Peel refused to take Office.
! The supreme political power of the nation was
j sw8yed from its course by ed-ehamber Incl.
/ dent. What staggerer this is for those who
| assert that the Queen 1s only nominally the
ruler of the British empire.
In the chapter on the maids of honor an
! amusing record is given OF the rules and regu-
| lations established for them by Queen Hen
rietta Maria in the vain attempt to restrain
! their license. These officials of the ROYAL
household had gained by long custom q sort OF
| prerogative for being frolicsome, and es-
| pecally in the gay days of the later Stuarts
! the title of maids of honor had an exquisite
ring of irony in it. 1t seems from this account
/ that their folly was never fully restrained till
! the reign OF Victoria, who has, by her COM
! bination of goodness and strength OF charac-
/ ter, made the Office most decorous and i'm
! p0rtant one, requiring a very accomplished
and industrious person to fill II properly.
Manyincldents are related showing that the
| Queen possesses loyable and unpretentious
| character The effect of the book will be to
add to the impression that Victoria is a sweet
and noble woman as well ss a Queen and an
Empress.