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

But that you may fully understand
the activities of Queen Mary as a
housekeeper l may briefly outline the
housekeeping system that prevails in
the English royal household.
Everything for the royal table is
ordered by the chef, NJ. Cedard, or his
chief assistant. The chef makes out
the order for whatever he requires In
duplicate; one copy goes to the
tradesman. the other is passed on to
an official known as the clerk OF the
kitchens.
When the goods are delivered to
the palace the clerk of the kitchens
inspects them, weighs all goods sold
by weight, and sees that the delivery
is correct He then enters up the
charge for the goods in the trades
mans account. The accounts are paid
monthly by the lord steward.
Since the accession Of King George
the clerk of the kitchens has to fur
nish Queen Mary with weekly state
ment of all supplies ordered by the
chef. together with the prices
charged.
Her ma jesty goes most carefully
into these statements II there Is
any charge that appears to her to be
excessive she brings il to the atten-
ton Of the clerk of the kitchens, who
informs the chef that her majesty
considers the charge too high. The
chef has either to give good reason
for the charge or get 1t lowered.
This supervision Of the table ex-
penses at the royal palaces by her
majesty is not liked either by the
kitchen staff or by the tradesmen,
but it-effectually prevents those over
charges which are common In most
big households.
Queen Mary. especially since the
war and the rise in prices. has been
at pains TO keep herself well in
formed as TO the current prices of
most articles supplied to the royal
table, and when a decline in the
price Of any commodity takes place
the effect of it must be observable in
the weekly statement of expenses or
the chef will have to explain why
II is not.
But what does It matter to Queen
Mary, you may very naturally ask,
II the tradesmen's bills are a bit
higher than they ought to be? Why
should the consort of sovereign
who receives E470,000, or, at the
normal rate of exchange, $4,000
a year from the state, need 10 con-
slider economy at all?
Well, surprising as 1t may seem,
1t is up to Queen Mary, and TO her
august husband, too, to keep watch
of expenditures fairly carefully II
they don't want to have to dip into
their own private means for the up
keep Of the royal menage.
OF the total sum of f470,0 900 which
constitutes their majesties so-called
civil list or grant by Parliament,
f125,s00 was appropriated to cover
the salaries of the household and
f193, 600 to cover the expenses of the
household. These appropriations,
however, were made in 1870 the
year of King Georges accession, and
they have never been increased, in
spite of the tremendous rise in the
cost of living which the war brought,
and which, unhappily. is still with
us, affecting kings and queens in
common with lesser folk.
X
60 hard was King George hit by
- the cost of living when war
prices were at their Hottest that he
was compelled to ask Parliament to
allow him to realize capital to the
extent of 100000 to make up for
the big deficits which his accounts
showed in the years of 1919 and 1920.
And even today the salaries drawn
by the royal servitors and the cost
of running the household are so much