Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1936-01-26
own PRIVATE LIFE
IS OPEN TO WALES
New King Need Not Differ
Materially Habits as
Prince.

Special Dispatch to The star.
NEW YORK, January rs (N.A.N.A).
1.-The private life Of King Edward
VIII reed not differ materially from
the private life of Edward, Prince of
Wales, according to Lord Donegal,
who is here on q short visit.
Lord Donegal. a London newspaper
columnist for the last 10 years, is a
school chum OF the Duke of Kent.
younger brother of Britain's new king,
and has many friends and relatives
at the royal court.
"The late King George" said Lord
Donegal, lied very domestic sort
of life and an utterly respectable one,
but there Is no law or even custom
about that. The king may do fairly
we'll as he pleases in private life and
there are many to help him do 1t dis
creetly. That includes the newspapers
~ Pilots Own Plane.
"F'or instance, King Edward VIII
likes to pilot his own airplane in solo
flights. and although every newspaper
man in England knew that he did so
occasionally. only one newspaper cared
to hint even guardedly of the fact.
Nov that the prince is King, he no
doubt will be unable to travel as much
and the chances are he will abandon
his habit of taking a party of friends
to public restaurants for dinner and
q bit of dancing. He may even aban-
don flying, as he did hunting over the
dangerous Leicestershire country be-
cause of the pressure of public opinion
against it. He liked the hard riding at
Melton, but his fallStno more nun1er-
Gus than those Of his companions
became so we'll publicized and public
anxiety grew so great that Queen Mary
herself asked him to give it up, and
he did so promptly. He likes flying as
much as he did riding to hounds, but
Il the public voices its alarm I am
quite certain he will fly no more, even
though he did become the first OF
Britain's kings to make flight"
The pressure Of public business will
take up most of the Kings time. said
Lord Donegal, but then. as Prince
Of Wales, there was vast amount Of
Pubic business.
George Brewed Own Tea.
II once made an investigation into
the daily routine of King George
and found he had as little time
for his personal life as the average
American director of large corpora
ton. From private sources learned
that the King rose every morning
promptly at 1880 and brewed his
own tea on an electric kettle. Why?
Well, I do not know exactly. but
probably because no Englishman will
admit any one can make tea as well
as he can.
From 730 until lunch. and many
times through lunch, the King was
occupied exclusively with state busi-
ness. He has to sign all acts Of
Parliament, you know. in order to
make them official. I tried to find
out exactly how many official docu-
ments he did sign in the course Of
q year from my cousin, who Is secre-
tary to Queen Mary. but the nearest
he could get was that 1t was at least
as many as were signed by any other
man on. earth, including the Presi-
dent of the United States.
1.-The King made it his duty to be
the best informed man in the en-
pire, and he read carefully the min
utes of Parliament as we'll as reports
from various state departments. par
ticularly the home and foreign Off
ces. He took it upon himself to act
Is peacemaker in quarrels that were
endangering the national interests.
sitting at table with the men con-
cerned and trying to compose their
differences. He was always in touch
with everything and gave much sound
advice to government ministers.
Took Walk in Garden.
"After lunch, he walked with his
dogs through the garden of the
palace in which he happened to be
living at the time. A 4 o'clock he
Invariably took tea with the Queen
and whomever of her friends hap
pened to be present. He returned
to state business after that and
worked right through until 1t was
time to dress for dinner. His eve
nings-when they were free-were
devoted to reading, perhaps cinema.
orl to listening to the radio. He had
the best radio set that could be built
and was very fond of tuning in, as
YOU say.
This. of course, was the program
on those very rare days when OFF,
cial functions did not interfere.
When they did. the time they re-
CURED was subtracted not from State
affairs. but from his private life.
Since ofncial functions occurred four
or five times every week, you can
readily understand that the King
did not have much private life"
Lord Donegal said only time could
tell whether Edward VIII would be
AZ conscientious about state business
rs George v had been. But" he
added, Il know several of his friends
who have discussed the matter with
him. He told them he realized that.
once he became King, the pressure
Of ofictal business would be over
whelming and that therefore he was
going to have his fun while he could
In preparation for settling down. In
late years be has been cutting down
more and more on his fun tapering
OF. sort Of. and beginning to show
. deep interest in social problems.
rHe did not sit around in night
Clubs In London as he did on the
continent. In the last few years he
has been an early riser and have
seen aim frequently at the Bath
Club playing squash at o'clock in
tl1e morning He sets great store In
keeping ut. you know. and has
genuine distaste for losing his figure.
"As prince, he went about London