New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-05-15
A ROYAL DEATH PAGEANT
Impressive Ceremony Planned
in Houses of Parliament.
KING GEORGES ACTIVITY
Scenes Within and Without tn
Death Chamber-Rumors
Regarding Royalty.
IBy Cable TO The Tribune.

By Cable 70 The Tribune
London. MAY liking Edwards last
Parliament. assembling on Tuesday at
Westminster Hall, will be, at least in
one respect, a welcome anomaly. 1t VIII
be Parliament without politics. The
Kings speech which the Lords and Com
mons will be summoned to receive viii
be the shortest on record There VIII
be only one word. and that will be un-
spoken The rival legislative houses will
know that the wbrd is peace, and they
will commune with their own hearts and
be still. There viii be a memorable
tscleau, with a stately company Of royal
rourners. and Edward the Pacifactors
last service to the empire and the world
will be rendered potent. 1t VIII be an
appeal to human sympathies, and haz-
ertsoue and fetuous will be the attempts
Of politicians to challenge the preroga-
tive of the dead King TO effect the de-
iiverance of the country from partisan
politics.
King George, who has been rightly
credited with originating the unique
audience OF the houses of Parliament
with the dead sovereign at Westminster
Hall, IS among the earliest risers in
Mayfair. He has been accustomed TO
take a long canter through the parks
before O'Clock, but now he has settled
down 10 q long days work without ex-
IF fnc-
pjtaltv and etiquette is referred to him,
and there is a rapid succession of audi
ences and prolonged drudgery with sec
retaries and officials. He is showing
signs Of WEAKNESS and exhaustion, but
with infexible will is keeping abreast
of the work. He even finds time for
sympathetic messages to friends Of the
entombed whitehaven miners and TO
Florence Nightingale.
The paseant Of which the King is
chief organizer will rival Queen Vic
ioria's burial in ialpressiveness and
grandeur The naval spectacle will. be
lacking. but the dead sovereign's last
meeting with Parliament and the
solemn yet democratic lying in state
under the vaulted roof of Richard III be-
fore the eyes Of half a million subjects
will be more memorable than a full ar
ray of hattleships and cruisers. Until
the arrival of the Duke of Connaught
enabled the mourners TO prepare for the
formal function i'm the throne room with
the sealed coffin there had been extreme
simplicity in the death chathber. King
Edward might almost have been cot
lager taking his rest in his night clothes
There was no field marshals uniform or
gold lace trapping, and around his neck
was the loelet which he had always
worn as charm While he was resting
peacefully there was a hubl,ub outside
over the concentration of 5000 or 30.
e10 troops for the protection Of the line
Of march. belated preparations for dec
Grating the streets. mercenary traffic in
windows and scaffolding seats for spec
tators and untimely chatter about the
autumn session for bringing the veto
question 10 a head before coronation
year.
London is quieting down after q week
of strong emotion and fervid loyalty to
the royal house. Among the rumOrs in
me ar Is one IIdl queen MARY via DC
nominated as a Regent in the ifnpend-
ing bill for regulating the minority of
rhe Duke of Cornwall, and another says
that the Duke of Connaught will open
The Parliament in South Africa and be-
come Governor General of Canada. An
other is that Windsor will be King
Georges principal home this year, with
long outing at Baimoral, and that
Marlborough House will be the Queen
Mothers town residence. Still another
is that the King viii speedily assume
the rank OF a field marshal.
The first official Life of King. Ed
ward viii be compiled by Sir Richard
Holmes. the librarian at Windsor The
bulk Of the work is already done. The
most impartial estimate OF Queen Vic
toria was an anonymous Quarterly Re
view article. The author was Edmund
GoSse. who was frightened by his own
oandcr until he heard that King Ed
ward liked the article and had expressed
the hope that his own life and reign
would be summed up with an equally
open mind.