Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1922-01-08
MEMBER of King Georges Entour-
1'A age Tells of Astonishing Frugality
on the Part of England's Royal Family.
Palace Meals Cut to Minimum, and
the Rulers Are Keeping Down Their
Personal Expenses by Unusual Savings.

scraping and saving on the part of
the sovereign and the members Of his
family in the matter Of their personal
expenses.
But the truth is that it Is largely
King George. Queen Mary and their
children that Mr.. Chamberlain was
able to state to the house that "al-
though the costs Of carrying on the
royal household have doubled, the
royal expenditure is only ii per cent
greater than in 1910"
+ X X X
MR.. CHAMBERLAIN, though he
told the house that the king had
been meeting the huge extra expenses
that he has to bear owing to the H. C.
of L., was forbidden by etiquette to dis
close the extent to which King George
and ais family have had to count the
pennies personally to avoid being even
deeper in the hole than they now find
themselves
am able to do this, however. thanks
to an extraordinary statement recently
made by 4 recently retired member of
the royal encourage who not only Is in a
position to know whereof he speaks, but
was able to support his seemingly fan u.
tastic assertions by quoting actual
figures
King Georges income Of roughly $2,-
$4,000 from the state looks big enough
to stand lot of strain" ne said, but
the calls upon it are enormous. Only q
small portion of 1t, about $4,000, ever
at any time reached the kings private
hank account. Today not a penny
reaches it. On the contrary. the king
had to supplement his civil list out of
his private resources in order to meet
expenses which it is absolutely impos.
sible, as things stand now, to cut down.
Amazing as it seems the king can
not dismiss any official Or servant in the
royal employ unless he or she is guilty
OF actual wrongdoing. Anybody en-
ployed in the royal household has what
Is tantamount to a permanent govern
ment appointment and cannot be fred
without being fully pensioned, or being
paid a tidy sum Of money as compensa-
ton for dismissal
There are $50 men ard maid servants
in the royal employ. With the excep-
ton Of the chief chef. the kings valet,
the housekeeper and a few others. all
the royal servants receive an allowance
for board. The board allowance paid
to each servant in pre-war days was
$3.50 a week Today the allowance is
1850 a week which means an in
crease in the expenses Of the royal e.
tablishment of about $1,000 a week (es-
timating that 100 servants are paid the
increased allowances for board), or $67,-
COO year.
ETHE money paid under different
contracts for the laundry work
at all the royal residences amounted
in June, 1914, to $4,000 q year. The
amount paid under contracts now ex-
ceeds $55,000 a year. The increase in
servants wages apart from the in
crease in board allowance) and in
official salaries since 1914 amounts to
31VU,VVV q ycdis
"Other increases In the expenses Of
the royal establishment, such as the
increase in the cost Of coal and in the
lighting charges. amount to at least
$4,000 per annum. To say that the
running expenses Of the royal estab-
lishment have increased $250,0e0 a
year since 1914 is probably an under
statement Of the fact. (Mr. Chamber
lain told the house Of commons that
costs had doubled since 1902 TAX
ing this figure as correct, however,
King George would have to dip into
his private income to the tune OF at
least $250.00o to meet expenses that
his majesty cannot possibly cut down
in any way.
ION the kings accession to the
throne. when parliament fixed the va
rious allowances to be paid to the
head of the state at $2,350.000 a year.
it was estimated that. after meeting
all the expenses Of the royal estab-
lishment. there would be a sum Of
about $250.OO0 left for the personal
expenses of the sovereign, such as
dress bills for himself and the men,
beers of the royal family, travelling