Monarchy New Zealand
The Journal of The Monarchist League of New Zealand Incorporated
ISSN 1174-8435
Volume 6 Issue 3 August 2001
The Monarchist League of New Zealand, Inc.
The Secretary, 1/39A Clonbern Road, Remuera, Auckland 1005, New Zealand
Website URL: http://www.geocities.com/Capitolhill/Parliament/7802
Patron: Hon Sir Peter Tapsell, KNZM MBE MBChB FRCSEd FRCS
Council:
Chairman: Noel Cox, Esq., LLM(Hons) PhD CertTertTchg HonCIL FCIL FFASL FBS
Vice-Chairman: Merv Tilsley, Esq.
Secretary: Chris Barradale, Esq.
Treasurer: Stephen Brewster, Esq., MBA BCA CA
Councillors:
Nicholas Albrecht, Esq., MA(Hons)
Roger Barnes, Esq., FHSNZ
John Cox, Esq., LLB MNZTA
Neville Johnson, Esq.
Ian Madden, Esq., MA LLB FSA(Scot)
Robert Mann, Esq., MSc PhD
Professor Peter Spiller, BA LLB PhD LLM MPhil PhD
League Officers:
Legal Adviser: Noel Cox, Esq., LLM(Hons) PhD CertTertTchg HonCIL FCIL FFASL FBS
Librarian and Archivist: Noel Cox, Esq., LLM(Hons) PhD CertTertTchg HonCIL FCIL FFASL FBS
Provincial Representative, Wellington: Mathew Norman, Esq.
Provincial Representative, Southland: Carl Heenan, Esq.
Editor, Monarchy New Zealand: Noel Cox, Esq., LLM(Hons) PhD CertTertTchg HonCIL FCIL FFASL FBS
Assistant Editor and Advertising Manager, Monarchy New Zealand: John Cox, Esq., LLB MNZTA
Webmaster: Noel Cox, Esq., LLM(Hons) PhD CertTertTchg HonCIL FCIL FFASL FBS
Monarchy New Zealand is published by The Monarchist League of New Zealand Inc. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the policy of The Monarchist League of New Zealand. Correspondence should be addressed to the Editor, Monarchy New Zealand, 123 Stanley Road, Glenfield, Auckland 1310, New Zealand. Tel: +64 9 444-7687; Fax: +64 9 444-7397; E-mail: [email protected]
Cover illustration: HRH Prince Michael of Kent
Editorial
This Queen’s Birthday the Republican Movement of New Zealand issued a bizarre "declaration" that the first Monday of June each year will now be known as Republic Day. I am pleased to note that the republicans have graciously condescended to suspend their festivities until New Zealand actually becomes a republic.
While New Zealand remains a constitutional monarchy it is appropriate that we continue to observe the Queen's birthday. It hardly matters that the day is marked in June, rather than on the Queen's actual birthday, a matter to which the republicans took exception.
The majority of New Zealanders want this country to remain a monarchy. It is doubtful whether many of those who support a republic will approve of the Republican Movement's latest proposal. Indeed, their suggestion is so eccentric that it is quite comic. But the relatively lightweight nature of organised republicanism should not be allowed to mask a more dangerous and insidious threat. Their press release repeated the inaccurate claim that 40% of New Zealanders favour a republic. Such distortions are dangerous because of the support they give to the "inevitability" argument.
It is no argument at all to say that it is inevitable that New Zealand will become a republic. The majority of our people do not wish this to occur, although it may be that many believe New Zealand will eventually become a republic. It was unfortunate that the Prime Minister chose to repeat the inevitability argument at the time details of the Queen's visit to New Zealand were being announced.
A clear majority of people, approximately two-thirds, support the status quo. The rest are divided between supporters of change, and the undecided. With such odds the monarchy should not be seen as beleaguered. But the onus is on us, as avowed apologist for the monarchy, to remind people of this. There is a regrettable complacency at large, and an even more dangerous perception (particularly amongst the news media), that the end of the monarchy is inevitable. That is far from being a foregone conclusion.
Dr Noel Cox, Editor
News in Brief
Queen's birthday honours list
The Queen's birthday honours list this year included five Distinguished Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit (DCNZM)- Patricia Harrison, the Rt Hon Justice John Henry, Dr David Lewis, Sister Pauline O'Regan, and Dr Ranginui Walker.
There were thirteen Companions (CNZM), including the Most Revd Denis Browne, Emeritus Professor John Dunmore, and Emeritus Professor Sir Raymond Firth.
The 26 new Officers (ONZM) included Commodore Alan Peck, and Dr Austin Mitchell. There were also 56 new Members (MNZM) appointed to the New Zealand Order of Merit.
New appointments to The Queen's Service Order included eight Companions (QSO) for Community Service, and eight for Public Service. There were also 35 Queen's Service Medals (QSM) for Community Service and 33 for Public Service.
Queen's Counsel review
Late last year the Attorney-General, the Hon Margaret Wilson, issued a discussion paper calling for the review of the office of Queen's Counsel.
Queen's Counsel are barristers appointed by patent to be "one of Her Majesty's counsel learned in the law". The first New Zealand Queen’s Counsel were appointed in June 1907. Appointments are made by the Governor-General by Order-in-Council, on the recommendation of the Attorney-General with the concurrence of the Chief Justice.
Originally the QC was an extraordinary Crown officer, and their declaration of office retains this flavour. Since the time of King William IV the appointment has been largely a mark of recognition for the leading counsel of the day.
Some Australian states have abolished the office of QC. Such reforms – often blatantly republican in motivation- have sometimes seen the rank of QC’s replaced by such similar styles as "Senior Counsel". A similar change of nomenclature is possible here, even if the office is retained.
The title of Queen’s Counsel should be retained as reflecting New Zealand’s constitutional structure, the history of the institution in New Zealand, and its established reputation in New Zealand and abroad. There is certainly no groundswell of opinion against the office, or any compelling reason for a change.
Details of royal visit
On the 18th April Buckingham Palace announced that Her Majesty the Queen would be visiting this country between 12th and 19th October. His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh would accompany the Queen. The visit will be considerably longer than the three days originally suggested (see "HM the Queen to make fleeting visit" in the November 2000 issue of Monarchy New Zealand).
Her Majesty The Queen will visit New Zealand after the conclusion of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Brisbane.
This will be the first visit Her Majesty has made to this country since 1995, when CHOGM was held in Auckland. The Queen has visited New Zealand on nine previous occasions, beginning with her coronation tour of 1953-54.
Although there were early suggestions that Her Majesty would not be visiting Christchurch, these rumours were unfounded.
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will arrive in New Zealand after a 10-day visit to Australia. In Wellington there will be a ceremony of welcome at Parliament following a drive through the city. The Queen will attend the consecration service at the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul and open the new art galleries at the Museum of New Zealand (Te Papa).
Whilst in Dunedin the Queen will open the Information Services Building at Otago University, visit the Natural History New Zealand studios, and walk in the Octagon.
Her Majesty will also walk in Cathedral Square in Christchurch, following a welcome by Ngai Tahu at Rehua Marae. She will then visit the Burnham Military Camp, where she will meet defence force personnel training for duty in East Timor.
In Auckland, the Queen will visit the Team New Zealand base, and attend a garden party at Government House.
Royal Diary
Commonwealth Day Speech
The following is the full text of the Commonwealth Day message given by Her Majesty The Queen:
The theme this year - A New Generation - captures the reality of a young Commonwealth. More than half of our 1.7 billion people are under the age of twenty-five. They are the future of the organisation.
These young people face a world of challenge and change. Many must cope with a life where even the basics of human existence - food, shelter and clean water - are far from guaranteed, or in very short supply. Others have had their lives blighted by war, disease, or environmental damage. Far too few enjoy the prospect of a decent education, or work which can give expression to their talents and energies.
Yet for all its ills and difficulties the world of the new generation also offers opportunities: instant communication, the transfer of knowledge, and advances in science and technology which, if applied sensibly, can help people achieve a more fulfilling life.
Despite all these opportunities, we still seem transfixed by our differences. This is where our young people are so important. They know there are many problems which can only be resolved when people in different countries work together. I hope we can persuade them that the Commonwealth, whose very strength is in its diversity, has much to offer them in charting a path across the barriers of race and religion, distance and economic circumstance.
Making our Commonwealth matter to its younger members is the task for those of us who have lived through its development over the last fifty years or so. Ten Commonwealth leaders have been charged with conducting a review of our association's future. When they report to the Summit in Brisbane in six months' time, I hope they will bring with them a message of renewal. For what the Commonwealth becomes will depend on its success in engaging with those of the new generation; capturing their imagination; firing their vision; and enlisting their energy and commitment to an association which I believe can be as important to the twenty-first century as it has been to the twentieth.
Elizabeth R.
12 March 2001
Prince William a Millennium Volunteer
The Millennium Volunteer National Forum have made HRH The Prince William of Wales an Honorary Millennium Volunteer. The award is for his 10 week Raleigh International expedition to Patagonia, Chile, during which he taught English to the local children, and assisted with a number of community projects.
The award was announced in February by the British Secretary of State for Education and Employment, the Rt Hon David Blunkett.
League News
New Council
A new Council was elected at the Annual General Meeting of The Monarchist League of New Zealand Inc. on 10th June 2001.
Captain Chris Barradale was elected Secretary, and Stephen Brewster Treasurer, replacing Miss Nancy Sellars and John Cox respectively. John Cox becomes a Councillor.
Dr Noel Cox, Chairman, and Merv Tilsley, Vice-Chairman, were re-elected unopposed. Councillors re-elected were Nicholas Albrecht, Roger Barnes, Neville Johnson, Ian Madden, Dr Robert Mann, and Professor Peter Spiller.
In his annual report the Chairman announced that membership had increased by 50% in the past year. Although this was heartening, further work was needed to make membership more representative of the whole country. In particular, the South Island and the provinces were under-represented.
Overseas News
Nepalese disaster
Their Majesties King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Deva, and Queen Aishwarya of Nepal were killed 1st June 2001 in the Narayarhiti Royal Palace, Kathmandu. The King and Queen's son and daughter Prince Nirajan (22) and Princess Shruti (24), and the King's two sisters, also died. Crown Prince Dipendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev (29) died later.
The senior surviving member of the royal family is Prince Gyarendra, the King's younger brother, who was briefly Prince Regent for his nephew Crown Prince Dipendra.
The Crown Prince, though critically injured, was declared King Dipendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev by the Royal Privy Council, in accordance with the 1990 Constitution. He was however declared dead within two days of his accession.
The deaths of the king and queen, crown prince, one prince and four princesses was a massacre unequalled since the killing of members of the Ethiopian imperial family in 1974, and of the Laotian royal family in 1975. It was the first murder of a Sovereign since a cousin murdered the King of Saudi Arabia in 1975.
King Birendra was educated at Loreto Convent and St Joseph's College, Darjeeling, India, and Eton College, England. He also spent some time at Tokyo and Harvard universities. He had ruled Nepal from 1972.
Jubilee Medal for UK servicemen
A commemorative medal for the British Armed Forces to mark The Queen's Golden Jubilee in 2002 has been announced by the Home Secretary, chairman of the Ministerial Committee for the Golden Jubilee.
The medal will be issued to the uniformed Armed Forces and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary during 2002 as part of the Jubilee celebrations.
Those eligible to receive a medal will be members of the Armed Forces and Royal Fleet Auxiliary who have completed a minimum of five years' reckonable service on 6th February 2002 - the 50th anniversary of The Queen's Accession. Her Majesty will visit the Armed Forces on 27th June 2002, as part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations.
Planning for the Queen's Golden Jubilee is well under way in the United Kingdom. The Golden Jubilee Office, a unit of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, is based at 85 Buckingham Gate, London SW1E 6PD. It is responsible to a ministerial committee, chaired by the Secretary of State, and an officials committee under the Permanent Secretary. Details of planning may be found on the Office's website, launched 22nd June 2001, at http://www.goldenjubilee.gov.uk/content/.
Lord Levene, former Lord Mayor of London, is in charge of London's celebrations. Lord Levene, chairman of Deutsche Bank Investment Bank Europe, has been chosen to head an organising committee for events in London.
He said the Queen and the Government wanted people "to do their own thing. The intention is to have a lot of spontaneous events which come from the bottom up, rather than from the top down. We want people to tell us how they want to celebrate, rather than dictate to them what somebody else wants them to do. Our job is to help co-ordinate operations".
The climax of the celebrations will take place in June next year, although the 50th anniversary of the Queen's accession to the throne will be on February 6th. A public holiday has been announced for Monday, June 3rd. The spring bank holiday will be moved to the next day to allow four days of public celebrations.
On June 4th the Queen and members of the Royal Family will attend a national service of thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral, after a ceremonial procession. That day will be a Bank Holiday in place of the Spring Bank Holiday, which would otherwise fall on 27th May in 2002.
The Queen will open the Commonwealth Games in Manchester on July 25th and close them on August 4th. She will be the fourth British monarch to celebrate half a century on the throne, following Henry III, George III and Queen Victoria.
In order to express the appreciation of New Zealanders for Her Majesty's work over the past 50 years, the Monarchist League of New Zealand intends to make a suitable presentation to The Queen. Donations towards the cost will be gratefully received, and may be sent to the Treasurer, 4/20 Bertrand Road, Mount Wellington, Auckland 1006. A decision on the nature of the presentation has not yet been made. Suggestions are welcome.
Members are also urged to write, call or otherwise remind their local councils and community groups of the need to celebrate the Golden Jubilee.
Bulgarian king wins election
On 17th June national parliamentary elections in Bulgaria saw the National Movement of Simeon II receive a spectacular 46% of the popular vote.
Bulgaria's King Simeon II, who was forced into exile when he was nine, had earlier circumvented with a series of complex moves a court ruling barring his party's entry into politics.
The Supreme Court had upheld a ruling rejecting the registration of his National Movement for the parliamentary elections.
The King then formed a coalition with two hitherto tiny parties that offered him their unconditional support and legally registered names: the Party of Bulgarian Women and the Oborishte Party for National Revival.
Simeon was banished from Bulgaria after a rigged referendum led to the abolition of the monarchy in 1946. He has spent most of the past 50 years in Madrid, earning a living as a successful business consultant.
In the short time since its launch, King Simeon's movement overtook the two main parties - the ruling Union of Democratic Forces, and the Socialist opposition. Simeon himself has achieved the highest public approval rating of any post-war Bulgarian leader. Whether his Government will be able to meet the expectations of his people remains problematic.
Kaiser's rule on marriage still applies to his heirs
[At a time when the Guardian newspaper and others apply pressure on our royal family to change the laws of succession- something which only the Commonwealth parliaments collectively can do, it is interesting to recall that other countries have much stricter succession rules, including some where the monarchs no longer reign. A case in point is Germany. The following article, which first appeared several years ago, illustrates this clearly]
The head of the Prussian Hohenzollern royal family must observe the rule requiring him to marry a woman of equal rank or give up the position, Germany's Supreme Court decided yesterday.
Prince Frederick William of Prussia, great-grandson of the last Kaiser, lost his legal battle to be reinstated as head of the family after marrying a woman said to be of inferior social class.
He must make way for his nephew, Prince George Frederick, 22, who was educated in Scotland, at Glenalmond College. Friends describe him as a charming and unpretentious man, who, after service in the German army, intends to go to university in Berlin.
Wilfried Rogasch, an expert on dynastic history at the German Historical Museum in Berlin, said: "This verdict is a very pleasant surprise. The judges have defied the French revolutionary ideal of equality, which has a strong influence on German law, and have instead favoured the traditional law of one particular family."
The Supreme Court overturned the verdicts of two lower courts, which dismissed the requirement to marry a woman of equal birth as "immoral" and had accused those family members who upheld it of being "imprisoned in their traditional outlook".
Yesterday's victor, Prince George Frederick, has yet to marry, but Mr Rogasch said there are "at least 500 women" of requisite rank to him. His bride could come from one of the many families who lost their territories in 1806 when Napoleon wound up the Holy Roman Empire, as well as from any of the royal houses that continued to rule after that date.
The Hohenzollern House of Prussia lost its throne in November 1918, when Kaiser William II was forced to abdicate after Germany's defeat in the First World War.
Although there is no prospect of Germany offering the throne to the head of the house, the question of who is head of the family is of considerably more than academic interest because the Hohenzollerns are still immensely wealthy. Their most splendid possession is Burg Hohenzollern, in Baden-Württemburg, where the family originated. The castle contains such treasures as the Prussian royal crown, found by British officers in a hiding place at the end of the Second World War and later returned to the family.
The Hohenzollerns lost palaces in Berlin and Potsdam after the abdication, but the Kaiser's grandson and heir, Prince Louis Ferdinand, who died in 1994, built a villa called Monbijou as his Berlin residence, and also had estates near Bremen and in Schleswig-Holstein, as well as valuable works of art. Prince Louis Ferdinand disinherited his elder son Prince Frederick William, in 1981, after the latter married Ehrengard von Reden.
Prince Frederick William pointed out that his wife's family could be traced to 1190, not much later than the Hohenzollerns, who were first mentioned in 1061. This was not good enough for Prince Louis Ferdinand, who had married Princess Kira of Russia. He made a new will, naming as his heir his favourite grandson, Prince George Frederick, whose father had been killed in an accident in 1977 while serving with the German army.
Prince Frederick William does not stand to lose everything from yesterday's decision because, under German law, he and other members of the family will still be entitled to half the family estate.
Andrew Gimson, Daily Telegraph, 18th December 1998.
Prince Michael of Kent in Russia
At a remote mosquito-infested Siberian oil town, Prince Michael of Kent recently found himself the subject of almost cult-like devotion while visiting one of Russia's most inhospitable regions.
As a choir of children sang hymns, Prince Michael listened attentively while the parish priest showed him around a glittering array of icons. After pausing to chat, in fluent Russian, with schoolchildren and members of the congregation, the Prince went over to inspect a newly carved crucifix, gently touching its contours and praising the quality of its craftsmanship.
Outside the church, Prince Michael encountered a group of beggars. Without hesitation the Prince produced three 20 rouble notes which he pressed into their grateful palms.
As soon as he had departed a group of elderly women surrounded the crucifix, jostling one another to kiss the spot that had been touched by the royal hand. Then, falling to their knees, they offered prayers of thanks.
One old woman exclaimed: "It's a miracle. After so many years of terrible suffering God has rewarded us with the presence of this saint."
As a direct blood relation of the Romanovs, Prince Michael, with his striking physical resemblance to Tsar Nicholas II, has become used to the interest he generates among Russians from all walks of life during his frequent visits to the country. The tsars were regarded as the divinely appointed heads of the Russian Orthodox Church, whose leaders have elevated all members of the Romanov family murdered during the Revolution to sainthood.
The almost devotional reception that Prince Michael encountered during his travels through some of the Russian Federation's remoter outposts suggests that many ordinary Russians, view his presence as a potent symbol of their imperial and religious heritage. There would appear little doubt that if Prince Michael had the right qualifications he would make an ideal pretender to the Russian throne, with a keen following.
The Prince professed himself to be rather wary of becoming too closely associated with any revival of the potent forces of imperialist sentimentality and Orthodox spirituality. He explained: "After you have been through all the horrors the Russians have suffered you have to have something to latch on to. But it is important to keep things in perspective. All this talk of the tsars being restored to power is very hypothetical."
However much Prince Michael would like to play down the reception he received in Russia, there are few Russians who were unmoved by his presence. Perhaps the most graphic illustration of the country's regard for someone so closely associated with two of the most powerful forces in Russian history, the monarchy and the Church, came earlier in the week when Prince Michael attended a revival of the St Petersburg midsummer ball.
The event was held at the Yekaterinsky Palace, once the home of Catherine the Great and located less than a mile from the Alexander Palace, where the Romanovs were held under house arrest after the abdication of Tsar Nicholas in 1917 and prior to their transportation, and eventual murder, in the Urals. The turbulence of the past century seemed a world away as the organisers laid on a sumptuous feast for the assembled guests, who included the presidents of Russia and Austria, cabinet ministers, provincial governors, foreign ambassadors, businessmen and, of course, a sprinkling of British royalty.
As the ball neared its end and President Vladimir Putin and his entourage prepared to leave, the Russian leader was informed that the Prince's party was sitting at an adjoining table. Without a moment's hesitation Mr Putin swept over to greet Prince Michael warmly. It was a pattern repeated frequently as Prince Michael travelled the country as part of his campaign to highlight what he regards as the positive changes starting to take place in modern Russia.
The Russian authorities were taking no chances with Prince Michael's safety, but their rigorous security arrangements served only to intensify the interest of the public in the Prince's visit. This was clearly evident while he was in Murmansk on the Barents Sea, where the Prince, a former Ministry of Defence Russian intelligence specialist, inspected the decommissioning of the Soviet Union's Northern Nuclear Submarine Fleet.
The trip was sponsored by two of Russia's largest companies, prompting the inevitable claims that the Prince was undertaking the trip merely to line his pockets, a suggestion that his officials vigorously denied.
However much the Prince seeks to stress the upbeat aspects of Russia's political and commercial development, the evidence of the less appetising aspects of the legendary lawlessness is never far from the surface. Nefteyugansk, for example, sits at the heart of one of Russia's most profitable oilfields. Two years ago a Mayor who was a fierce critic of the oil companies was shot dead outside his office.
A similar picture emerged in Yekaterinburg, the capital of the Urals, which Prince Michael visited to inspect progress on the construction of a shrine to his murdered Romanov relatives. The cemetery is filled with memorials to gangsters, killed fighting over the city's mafia rackets.
At Yekaterinburg, Prince Michael revisited the site of his relatives’ brutal murder. As he inspected the Orthodox monastery under construction in the woods where the Bolshevik murderers made their gruesomely clumsy efforts to dispose of the bodies, the monks could hardly contain their excitement that they had a living representative of the Romanov dynasty in their midst.
The bishop proclaimed: "This is a place of holy rejoicing. This is a place where we can now celebrate the miracle of the Romanovs."
Royal Poetry
The traditional ballad Queen Jane was in travail, or The Death of Queen Jane, has many different versions. The song has a definite historical origin, though it is not factually true to its source. King Henry VIII had six wives and three children. Queen Jane Seymour, the third wife, bore his third child, the only son, Edward. She died twelve days after the birth, which was not a Caesarean. Prince Edward was sickly child and reigned only a few years as the teenaged Edward VI.
QUEEN JANE
Queen Jane lay in labour for six weeks and some more,
Her women grew weary and the midwife gave o'er.
O, women, kind women, as I know you to be;
Pray cut my side open and save my baby.
"O, no," said the women, "That never might be,
We'll send for King Henry in the hour of your need.
King Henry was sent for by horseback and speed
King Henry he come there in the hour of her need.
King Henry he come in and stood by her bed;
What ails my pretty flower, her eyes look so red.
O Henry, kind Henry, pray listen to me
Pray cut my side open and save my baby.
"O, no!" said King Henry, "That never might be!
I'd lose my pretty flower to save my baby."
Queen Jane she turned over and fell in a swound,
They cut her side open, her baby was found.
How black was the mourning, how yellow her bed,
How white the bright shroud Queen Jane was laid in.
Six followed after, six bore her along,
King Henry come after, his head hanging down.
King Henry he wept 'til his hands were wrung sore
Says, "The flower of England is blooming no more."
The baby was christened the very next day,
His mother's poor body lay moldering away.
Trad. circa.1537
Royal visits
Duke and Duchess of York, 1927
Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of York, later Their Majesties King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (now the Queen Mother), visited New Zealand in 1927.
Like the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII, who visited a few years earlier, the Duke and Duchess travelled to New Zealand on HMS Renown, arriving at Auckland on 22nd February 1927, and departing for Australia on 22nd March.
The royal couple, who had married only four years earlier, visited most of the larger towns, and found time to spend two days deep-sea fishing in the Bay of Islands and a similar period trout fishing at Kowhai Flat, Tokaanu.
The Duke of York showed particular interest in factories, several of which he inspected. He also paid an unscheduled visit to workers' homes in the Hutt Valley. On several occasions the enthusiasm of the public overwhelmed the police cordons, and caused delays in royal movements.
The Duchess became ill with tonsillitis while in Nelson, and had to abandon the remainder of her scheduled itinerary. The Duke, who had relied heavily on the presence of his wife, carried on without her. The success of this part of the tour was to give him greater self-confidence, and helped him in later life.
Royal Residences past and present
Hampton Court Palace
Situated on the banks of the river Thames, at East Molesey, Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, 15 miles south-west of London, Hampton Court was originally commissioned as a private residence by Henry Cardinal Wolsey. In 1514 he leased land from the Order of St John of Jerusalem, and built a palace there 1515-26.
The palace was offered to King Henry VIII in 1526 in an attempt to regain the King's favour, and was forfeited to the Crown when Wolsey's lands and possessions were seized in 1529.
Over the years Hampton Court has been popular with royalty as a residence, and as a venue for entertainment. It is conveniently close to London, from which access was traditionally by river.
Hampton Court has not been used as a royal residence since 1760, though King Edward VII considered moving there from Buckingham Palace. It is still used today for occasional official, charitable, and private functions.
Substantial alterations have been made over the centuries since the first palace was built by Cardinal Wolsey. The major phases of construction date however from the Tudor era and from the late seventeenth century, when Sir Christopher Wren did much rebuilding. Hampton Court was managed by the Office of Works and its successor departments since the 1850s, and has been open to public since 1890.
The palace is relatively easy to interpret as a building, as it comprises a series of courtyards with cloisters and gateways. The Great Gatehouse, Base Court and Clock Court date from the time of Wolsey. Henry VIII made many alterations including the addition of a Great Hall 106 feet long, 40 feet wide and 60 feet high, and new kitchens and cellars. The Chapel Royal was re-roofed with a magnificent wooden fan-vault made to resemble stone.
William III and Mary II constructed the Fountain Court, which contained new State Apartments. They also did much work in the grounds, including adding the diminutive Banqueting House in the garden.
The state apartments include the King's Audience chamber, and the King's or Cartoon Gallery, both of which were gutted in the 1986 fire. Both have since been rebuilt.
Immediately surrounding the palace are a number of gardens including Tilt Yard Gardens, and Henry VIII's Privy Garden. An Orangery houses the famous Mantegna Cartoons. Beyond the palace lies the 669-acre Hampton Court Park, and Bushy Park, two of the largest of the many royal parks in the environs of London.
Book Review
A KING'S STORY the Memoirs of HRH The Duke of Windsor with 46 photographs New York: Putnam 1947; London: Cassell 1951; The Reprint Society 1953; London: Pan pbk 1957 (held in the League library).
This book is a pleasant surprise - a much more thoughtful, informed account and analysis than would be expected from the playboy image of the author. The English style is better than I had somehow expected (but not so good as to imply a ghost-writer).
Finishing at the abdication, this is not a whole life-story. It is an account of some aspects of the British monarchy, mainly the quarter-century reign of George V. David (as the Prince had always been known), although born as late as 1894, gives us useful glimpses of the Victorian era, and offers a brief characterisation of its successor:
"The Edwardian era had arrived in the shape of my grandfather; and the effect upon the remnants of the Victorians was, I was given to understand, much as if a Viennese hussar had suddenly burst into an English vicarage . . . Although I was too young to realize it, I was seeing the birth of a new era and the ascendancy at court of other kinds of people. Their advent marked a breach in the old hierarchical framework of British life. The outward forms might still be observed unchanged, but the inner spirit was different. High office or ancient lineage were no longer the sole criteria of status. Beauty, wit, wealth, sophistication - these had now become valid passports to the Sovereign's inner circle."
The index appears unusually detailed but omits Maoris, a subject on which the book is actually not silent. Within the page on the 1920 NZ tour:
"But what was most novel to me was the Maoris, the race that we had subdued, not without bloodshed, a little less than half a century before. They gathered to meet me in various places in their native garb, chanting folk songs, and performing warlike dances called "hakas". Yet, apart from these encounters with the Maoris, I might have thought myself back in my own country. The New Zealanders, predominantly descended from English and Scottish stock, are extraordinarily homogeneous. They are calm, law- abiding, and industrious. In their far-off land they have preserved almost intact the spirit of their British forbears; even their speech has remained unaltered by local accent. In their behaviour towards me they were enthusiastic but restrained."
Details, including daily cigarette-smoking totals, can be found in Hector Bolitho's sycophantic 'With The Prince in New Zealand' (Auckland: Edwin Sayes 1920).
'A King's Story' was published before the death of his brother 'Bertie' who took on the crown; one might have expected David to publish an augmented edition after George VI's passing. The book's main interest to my mind is in the description of how British royalty lived in what are now very bygone days.
In contrast with the pampering of some royal children (as described in e.g. Gita Mehta's informative and moving 'Raj') is the subjection of the prince to degradations similar to those received by other boys - in David's case, in the RN colleges at Osborne and Dartmouth. This tradition, unfortunately worsened for the upbringing of the present Prince of Wales, led on to war service including four years in the Great War trying like Churchill in 'My Early Life' to get amongst the bullets but more obstructed (Kitchener came up with the ingenious reason that the Prince might be not killed but captured if allowed too near the front line). Four years in the war took him from the lowest commissioned rank to that of major - hardly an indication of favouritism. Early in WW2 he was a major-general - presumably his was a special arrangement reflecting the fact that upon becoming king he had automatically acquired the highest rank (admiral of the fleet).
Service in the armed forces, with remarkably few special privileges, is a tradition of British royalty (including our present monarch in WW2). Bulk sportin' shooting is also a main tradition; even if one cannot see all the causal connections, it would be imprudent to assume that either of these traditions has been less than very beneficial.
Late in the Great War the Prince flew on some RAF operations, but these are mentioned only vaguely. We do learn clearly that his father never flew.
David cheerfully makes clear his self-image as athlete, especially horseman, rather than intellectual, and in this respect takes after his father - who is quoted as saying that Queen Victoria's consort had however been an intellectual. The role of the established church in the life of the various royalty is not portrayed as very important, though the Archbishop of Canterbury, especially in the form of Cosmo Lang, is very close to the monarchs except Edward himself. Regular breaches of the 3rd Commandment by the author and, especially, his father are recounted with no hint of embarrassment.
Although he says he was wanting only to open the windows a little, it is possible to interpret Edward VIII as led astray by the rapid modernisation which began with the suffragettes, grew during the Great War, expanded frighteningly in the flapper era, and then allowed such desperados as Ribbentrop, Goebbels, Hitler, etc to cause such monstrous trouble within a couple of decades. I found this book helped me to understand the origins of the decadence which now surrounds and threatens to engulf us.
The newsreels of very public hobnobbing with Hitler are not reflected much in this autobiography. If indeed the main reason the Baldwin Conservative government's manoeuvering the King to abdicate was his unhealthy cosiness with Hitler, that is hardly to be glimpsed in this book. The would-be morganatic American is placed centre stage, portrayed by her prize as a conservative unselfish shrinking flower urging the King repeatedly to put duty first. He even tries to produce an image of his quandary which is somehow other than 'duty v. emotion' (I for one am unconvinced).
Churchill is depicted as the strongest opponent of the abdication:
"no hurry, the would-be morganatic one is not even divorced (again) yet and Parliament hasn't been allowed to consider the question at all yet."
So if Churchill was eager to get rid of this king on account of his friendliness with Hitler, he was in considerably less hurry than the Prime Minister who was generally doing little else about the mounting German threat (see vol 1 'The Gathering Storm' of Winston Spencer Churchill's 'The Second World War'). One could not rely much on this book in trying to come to an informed opinion on the reasons for the abdication. And all the years after 1936 are omitted. But as a perspective on our monarchy over several recent reigns, it is well worth reading.
(reviewed 2001 by LRB Mann)
