The evening tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 189?-190?, 1897-05-27
TALES OF THE QUEEN.
QUAINT INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF
ENGLAND'S SOVEREIGN.
Tradition That She Never Smiles Is Proved
/ Untrue She Is stickler For Court
Etiquette - Why Victoria Has No Love
For Gladstone.


For Gladstone.
The whole world Is interested Just now
In Queen Victoria and her jubilee.
The life OF the queen has been peaceful
and her reign prosperous.
There Is "a tradition In England that the
queen, like famous predecessor of hers,
never smiles This is not true OF course
everybody knows that THE mother and
wife was plunged into unspeakable grief
by the death of her consort, Prince Albert.
Yet 1t il true that long time has assuaged
much Of that great grief. That Victoria
not only smiles, but laughs outright, Is
proved by photograph taken some years
ago at Newport by Charles knight, the
well known photographer. 1t came about
in this way: Her majesty was visiting
Newport and was received by the mayor Of
that city. This fussy individual had
tricked himself in all the trappings Of his
office-fur robes, golden chains, innumer-
able medals, cooked hat and all. He had
written out and learned by rote speech
of welcome Right in the middle of his
fulsoIne speech his memory failed him.
He stammered, suffered, turned pale and
then shouted, "I've forgotten the restl"
and stood staring stupidity at the queen.
Victoria looked at the poor man-sO gOr-
Ge0oisly attired-and, overcome by the ex-
trcme humor Of the situation, burst out
into hearty laugh. Knight had his cam
era all ready to catch the group, and, in
fact, was In tho act of taking the picture
at the moment. So IL Is that the pretty
tradition that the heavy and stolid faced
queen Of England never smiles is denied
by the very best evidence.
There was another mayor who was not
90 backward with the august Victoria and
who suffered for his temerity. The queen
had gone to a small town to dedicate
monument to herself. The mayor was not
"gentleman'-that is, he was n plain
Briton, unused to royalty, and suffered
under the delusion that an Englishman Is
quite as good as any body, even the daugh-
Ter Of duke and of German princess
He walked up boldly to the queen, thrust
out his hand, seized hers, which was hang
ing by her side, and shaking the royal
"mitten" vigorously, exclaimed:
Your majesty, u hearty welcome to
townr'
Victoria Strengthened herself up to her
fall height Of feet and turned scornfully
away, saying, "We will leave this city at
once, and we will never set foot in 1t
again"
She did leave, and she has never set foot
In that town since that day.
Victoria has ever been very exacting in
the matter of court etiquette. When she
holds a reception, she always insists upon
the performance Of every detail Of custom
Persons who are fortunate enough to be
invited to court have therefore to drill
themselves and rehearse their parts, for
fear Of offending the queen by any little
neglect of manners. Now and then, how
ho~ n,x
sion, in very hot weather, she was receiv-
ing line Of sweltering noblemen and Ia
dies. Everybody was suffering from the
heat. The queen turned to an attendant
suddenly and exclaimed:
"Myl Amt hot!'
1t Is court etiquette never to contradict
royalty, and the lady addressed replied:
"Yes, madam. you are"
On this occasion the queen forgot both
her manners and her grammar.
!, The queen is very fond of music, and a
good performer on the piano Is always a
welcome visitor. Once Mascagni played
for her throughout an entire evening. She
sat close to him near the piano and listen
ed atteptively for hours to his wonderful
= work. Every now and then she would in
! terject some little remark of appreciation
or approval.
| In her old age Victoria's life is not
happy one. She is ever worrying about her
son, the Prince of Wales, who, old man
( tha5 he is is always making trouble for
his poor Old mother. The queen does not
! like her son. although there is no doubt
( that she loves him. She is very fond of
! the princes children. Prince Victor was
I especially dear to her, probably because ho
was a poor weak minded fellow, with 10
brain or sense whatever
When the queen first acceded To the
throne of Great Britain, she was believed
y TO have been very beautiful, although she
has not much beauty as an old woman.
AS soon as her face became known in
London numhcrlcss young men fell madlS
in love with her. Songs were written to
her by the thousand. One that has re-
mained to this day is the nadrigal about
the harp and the willow tree and the dis.
appointed lover who announces his inten.
tion of being of to the wars again, al
though there was really no war at all. 1t
j was he who sang:
For the lady love viii soon be a bride,
With q diadom on her brow.
I The diadem was none other than tho
splendiferous crown of England, with its
5000 precious stones.
Some very noted men were smitten with
|
was no less person than Charles Dickens,
and it might have been that Dickens told
the queen about 1t when nc had luncheon
with her one day after both Of them were
older and one of them more famous. Many
were the mad suicides about Victoria, and
the poor girls heart bled for the fellows
whose lives were snuffcd out, moth fashion,
in the strong light of her place and beauty.
7 But Victoria Is now very old, and these
things are put away In the dim past and
are dead II not forgotten.
Her majesty was n severe mother. She
insisted upon her children conducting
themselves with perfect propriety. Once In
q parade Princess Maud was disposed to
flirt with a number Of young cavaliers.
The queen frowned at 1t, but the princess
would do 1t. The climax came when she
dropped her handkerchief over the carriage
side and a dozen officers at once galloped
up to restore IL.
"Stop, you officcrs!' cried the queen.
"Now, you get out and pick up that hand