Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-12-21

in excess OF the actual appropria-
tons that the King has to dip pretty
deeply into his privy purse to make
| up the difference.
The amount allocated to the privy
purse (Which is designed merely to
cover the Kings and Queens personal
expenses) Is 100000. or, roughly,
! s550,000. During most of the war
years, ] am told. not a single penny
of this sum reached the private bank
ing account of the King (who con-
stantly contributes largely to chart
| ties), and today his majesty Is able
to bank only a fraction of it. So it's
small wonder that Queen Mary keeps
! a vigilant eye on the tradesmen's
bills and expenses in general!
| But the regulation OF the prices
OF supplies for the royal table and
| the management Of the royal kitchens
aren't by any means the only branches
! of the housekeeping at buckingham
Palace that the Queen supervises.
The household linen at the palace
| is in the charge OF two linen maids
fhe linen is stored in two rooms
| which were never entered by Queen
| Alexandra. Queen Mary pays regu-
lar visits Of inspection TO the rooms
The laundry work at the palaces
s done under contract by different
pre-War days amounted to a little
more than $4,000 a year. Today the
royal laundry bill amounts to nearly
$4,000 a year, and II certainly would
be higher but for the considerable
pains Queen Mary has taken to keep
down the laundry expenses.
IN pre-war days a fresh tabiecloth
ana fresh table napkins were given
out Tor each meal at the royal table.
Queen Mary, when prices began to
RISE altered this arrangement To-
Jay a fresh tablecloth and napkins
are given out from the linen room
once a day. Fresh bed linen for all
bedrooms occupied by members of
the royal family was given out every
DAY before the war. Today fresh
week. =
In King Edwards reign the linen
maids carried on the work without
Interference from any one. Part Of
their work is TO inspect the linen
when II is delivered to the palace. ts
check II over with the laundry book
ana 70 report any loss or damage of
the linen to the housekeeper, who
would communicate with the laundry
on the matter. But in practice the
| linen maids in the late reign never
ala make any report to the house
| keeper concerning damage to or loss
of linen.
Queen Mary, however, soon put a
stop to the maids easy methods of
doing their work, which saved them
the bother of checking over the linen
except in the most casual way.
y K x x
MOT long after King Georges ac-
cession the Queen suddenly made
her appearance in the linen rooms
one afternoon. She had timed her visit
at an hour when she knew a delivery
from the laundry had been made
The Queen had the linen checked
over while she was in the room and
inspected each article carefully.
The inspection took an hour, and
she discovered that two table nap
kins, one tablecioth and two towels
were missing. From that day the de-
liveries of linen from the laundry
have been most carefully checked by
the linen maids, and any shortage in
the delivery is at once reported by
them to the housekeeper.
You couldn't be expected TO believe
that the Queen washes much Of the
royal chinaware with her own hands.
but certain 1t is that she washes
some of it. Her majesty has for
many years past been an ardent and