Evening star., 1938-12-25
Royal Windsors a Happy English Family
King George Pides Himself on Being Ordinary
Brton in Every Way
BY M. H. HALTON.

The Union Jack r1ppled above the
ancient Keep of Windsor Castle, a
sign that the King was not In resi-
dence. A bugle call rang from the
battlements of this historic hill
where once, according to legend,
King Arthur met his Knights of the
Table Round, and which today, as
for centuries, is the principal resi-
dence of Britain's kings and queens.
I walked up the steep cobbled hill,
through the great gates guarded by
statuesque sentries, and toward the
horseshoe cloister. A friend of roy
atty gave me leg of lamb and mint
sauce and told me homely details
OF the lives of the King and Queen
who. before another Christmas has
come. will have visited their great
est dominion beyond the seas.
The royal Windsors were not at
home. They were in teeming Lon
don getting ready for Christmas.
opening bazaars. appearing with
their children at toy shows, living
their public lives, discussing the
thousand details concerned with the
voyage next spring, when for the
first time in history, British King
and Queen will visit the New World
Picked by the whirling wheels of
chance to be f1gureheads of a great
empire, at a critical period in its
history, they will abandon their pri-
vate lives for many weeks in order
to bring the peoples of Canada and
tho TIDitnN Cfotnc iV,%~ 81
with the motherland. You will see
them drive through your streets in
their public life as a king and
queen, but this is the story of a
man and woman, not of king and
queen.
When you read this; George Wind
sor and his wife and children and
the children's stately grandmother
and the uncles and aunts and cou-
sins are wrapping or unwrapping
their Christmas gifts at the huge
manor house called Sandringham.
near Kings Lynn in Norfolk. On
Christmas morning the King and
Queen and Queen Mary are the
father and mother and grand
mother, watching the childrens
wide-eyed delight like innumerable
other fathers and mothers all over
the world. And in the short few
weeks of their Christmas HOLIDAYS
these people can live their own pri-
vate lives, absorbed in their own
hobbies. reading their favorite
books. seeing the films they like.
What are their hobbies, their books
their favorite films?
Workshop in Basement.
Not at Sandringham, but in this
ancient Windsor Castle. there is
basement room where the King of
the British Empire puts away his
crown and goes about his favorite
hobby of working with electricity
and tools and airplanes.
If George Windsor had not been
born into exalted place he would
probably have been an artisan,
skilled worker with his hands. In
his workshop he has machine tools,
a lathe and every variety of tool. He
makes model airplanes. He makes
radio sets. He makes cigarette
lighters. He has made a gramo-
phone, toy battleships. toy soldiers.
When he tires of work he sits at
fireplace in this den and reads popu-
lar science magazines. Next sum-
mer he will go to Canada and be
hailed from sea to sea as king and
emperor; but as you read this he
mill hn nj M Vu,ifh hi ~,
mending broken toy battlesfrip
like any other father in his realms.
1t may very likely be battleship.
This King who took an active part
in the greatest naval battle in his
tory is keenly interested in the sea
and ships of war. AS Mr.. Robin
SON. he was serving in gun turret
on H. M. S. Collingwood at the
battle of Jutland His ship was
struck by German shells, and bits
Of the steel and shrapnel that
George picked up after the battle
are easily his most treasured pos
sessions today. Incidentally. he
dearly loves discussing that battle
with sailors, especially the vexed
question of the famous maneuver
by which the German fleet escaped
from Jellicoes net.
Collects Everything.
Like his, father and mother, King
George VI has a passion for COL
lecting "everything from tennis tro-
phies to seaweed." said my friend
He keeps the coins, stamps and
flowers he collected as a child, and
still adds to the collections. Ex-
tremely proud of his ability at ten
mis-, he keeps the trophies he won
years ago. He keeps bits of sea-
weed and sea shells picked up abroad
when he was naval cadet. He has
his first motor license, he has the
summons issued on him for smoking
in the street when he was stu
dent at Cambridge, he has his first
cricket bat Queen Mary, herself
terrific collector, smiles at her sons
taste and goes in herself for collect
ing furniture and priceless fans.
When you see the King of Canada
next June he will be an emperor
surrounded with an aura of romance
and majesty. But you can remem-
Der that that same monarch likes to
go home and dig in his garden and
plant bulbs with his hands-a King
and Emperor who prides himself on
being, in his own words, IAN Or
dinary Englishman in every way
Does the first citizen of quarter
of the world read detective stories,
oo ta Slp,c ooccir, 1,ith hiS friorHS