New-York tribune., 1901-02-10
TssURIsG TIE QUEENS LIFE.
ON The London Express.

From The LONDON Express.
The Queens life MAS insured by her subjects
for about fiootaD
This statement was made To an Express
representative by an insurance official IN Lon
don. whose authority is indispuiahle
The particular company OF winch ne Is me
head must pay out $4,000 among a number Of
people who held policies on Her Majesty's life.
An utterly erroneous statement has been IN
circulation estimating the total insurance of
the queens lie at fl0.oo0.UOo.
The absurdity OF this viii appear at glance
tn, re are about seventy offices IA this country
whore Her Mai jestys life might be- insured
None of these companies permits any one HE
To be insured, lay any number Of people, for AN
aggregate exceeding tloihh.
Resides in number of these companics t3hh
is the maximum, that, striking an average,
You have liWW as the amount of the insurance
on the Queens life ia each company, ana multi
lli.d lv The seventy offices the total comes out.
as above stated. AT about fioOoT~
II is a curious fact that monarch may thus
become the object of the provdeniial specu!a-
tion of his her subjects
The life of the King, as Prince Of Wales. is
also widely insured. and VIII certainly be more
SO hereafter as Edward VII
obviously, of course. people are not at liberty
to insure monarchs life merely AT will
II must be shown that they have what is
technically called an 'insurable interest in the
/ Queens Kings life"
A vast variety Of claims may be advanced on
this understanding, and il is not usual for in
surance companies To be exacting in their de-
mand FOR proof of interest"
Managers of theatres and great public enter
tainments have almost invariably insured the
Queens life, in view Of the effect Of her death
upon their business involving diminished audi
ences for an indefinite period and closed doors
/ on certain dates.
Similarly great drapery warehouses in Lon
don safeguarded themselves by insurance
against the certainty OF the Queens death caus-
ing sudden interruption Of the ruling fashions
IL is also not uncommon for people 20 insure
( the lives Of members Of the royal family. though
+ the statement that the life of the German EN-
peror is largely insured in England is rather in
. credible i'm view of the Kaiser being the head
Of the German Army-a fact which would raise
the premium 10 a prohibitiYe price.
For example, Prince Arthur's life was very
upon his joining the army and going out to
Egypt the Duke Of fonnaught, the premiums
almost doubled with the additional risk Of war
Hence 4 preference exists for insuring the lives
Of female members of the royal family whose
natural chance of reaching a ripe old age has
, ths. effect of keeping the premiums at or even
under the normal rate
In The West of EnEland-and absolutely no
where else-leases were commonly taken for
the period of the Queens life instead of for "A
stated number OF years. in other parts Of
the country.
The custom gave rise TO the practice of Tease
holders in those parts insuring the Queens life
/ TEST by her sudden demise they should suffer
heavily through the eXpiry of their leases.
How the custom originated nobody seems to
know.
IL may astonish people to learn that while so