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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 23, 1913)
4 THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAN. PORTLAND, FEBRUARY 23, 1913. Sshlfonartfr Compelled 'TcPffine Expanses Despite His Income of $2,350,000 He Has a Close Rub of It and so Is Spending Less, Giving Less and Even Eating Less Royal Servants Will Subsist on Plainer Fare. BY C B. SCOTT. LOXDON", Feb. 14. (Special corres pondence) With an income of $2,. 230.000 a year King George of England is so poor that he has been compelled to cut down his own food and to limit the number of courses that are served to his head servants. He will no longer travel, knowing that a sumptuous private car accom modates the great Btarr 01 attendants who accompany him and his family from palace to palace, but will have t let his court Journey In ordinary first class railway carriages. And finally, h -KlTisr and Oueen henceforth will strictly limit the presents which they have been in the habit of making their hosts and hostesses and, in the ma Jority of cases, will give only signed photographs, as was the custom of the Jate Queen Victoria. The secret of all these economies has Just been revealed to the writer by a member of the royal household. King George has determined to save $2,500,- nnn in the next 15 years. LP to the present time he has not saved a penny piece, but there are excellent paternal reasons why he should reform. The $2,300,000 safely Invested, would yield an income large enough to supplement the annual allowance made to his sons and daughter by trie British Parlia men! so that each will be in receipt nf 7r. non a. vear uoon marriage. The mere $30,000 a year which the British legislators think amply sufficient for the daughter or younger sons of the Monarch, King George believes is too small to permit the comfort he wishes his offspring to enjoy. Carina- for Royal Family. His Majesty has. besides the Prince of Wales, four sons and one daughter. About a provision for his eldest son King George need not trouble his head. The revenues from the Duchy of Corn wall, amounting to about $500,000 per annum, are settled on the Prince, and Parliament, on the King's accession, voted a sum of $330,000 a year for the maintenance of the heir apparent, which will be increased by another $150,000 a year when he marries. The provision made by the state for the younger royal children amounts to $23,000 per annum each, to be increased to $30,000 on their marriage. The King Is quite satisfied that $75,000 a year is the minimum figure upon which rrince Albert. Prince Henry or any of the younger sons of King George could I afford to marry on and even at that they would have to be content with an Infinitely smaller establishment than their elder brother, with bis $1,000,000 a year. About a provision for the Princess Mary, however, there Is not the same need of anxiety. Her royal highness will probably marry the heir to some European throne, and in such case the $50,000 a- year that the English Na tion would give her would be a suf ficient dowry. On the other hand. she marries a minor foreign royalty her expenses as the consort of such would be comparatively small, and she could live comfortably, as many minor royalties do, on her own dowry, even supposing her husband had nothing at all. His Majesty, for the past year, has been planning a number of economies In the management of the royal estab lishment. His first move is the ap pointment of Sir Derek Keppel as Mas. ter of the Household fn place of Sir Charles Frederick. Economies can be effected only by a strong man, and that Is the reason why the genial kind-hearted and popular Sir Charles Frederick has been succeeded in the position of the Master of the House hold by the one official in the house hold whom perhaps even King George would rather not risk doing anything to offend. Sir Derek Keppel has an iron will. a temper that no one who knows him cares to arouse and a clear brain. He has been an equerry to King George for the last 19 years, but has never held any important position In the royal establishment. It won t be long, how ever, before he gets his hands well on the reins, and then it will remain to be seen whether Sir Derek, strong as he is. is strong enough to carry out reforms that will arouse the opposition of every one of his subordinates. If he falls some one else will have to be. found to do the work, for the "King Is absolutely determined to save Tnoney. How He Will Economise. Parliament allows the King $2,350,000 year, of which $965,000 is for the maintenance of the royal household. nd about covers its present cost. King George could, of course, cut down the annual expenses of the household by 150,000 to morrow without lniiicting he least inconvenience on himself r.r m pairing the dignity of the royal es tablishment in any essential way. On the salary list of the royal household there are the names of dozens of of ficials drawing from $4000 to $7500 a year who never go near Buckingham Palace or any of the royal residences i tY - r P Jm X I S 4fVr v::I d T 1 1 ? 4 V nr i i e - .'-.sxj except on the occasion of a great state entertainment or other important tunc tion. But to abolish such sinecures as the Gold Stick" and "Silver Stick." "Keep er of the Great Park at Windsor," and host of others would be not only to Invite a- great deal of public cntl clsm, but also to provide a good .argu ment for those who favor cutting down the royal maintenance allowance. King. George, therefore, has turneda his attention to effecting economies n the expenses of the royal estab lshment which will attract little or no public notice, and which will only be observable by those in the immedi ate royal entourage. In the expenses of the royal house hold and servants' tables King George hopes, tinder the management of Sir Derek Keppel, to be able to effect a saving that will be considerable with out being too markedly observable. The catering accounts at the royal resi- ences jumped up enormously during the reign of the late King Edward. Lord Farquhar, an old friend of King Edward's, at the beginning of the late reign took control of the household for a couple of years to get the then new roya.1 establishment into working order. Lord Farquhar is a banker and keen, shrewd man of business. He 4 JvTio Sji V IP worked out an estimate by which the whole of the household catering could be well done for . about $140,000 per annum. This estimate was worked out as fol lows by theNday: Expenses of the royal table $175 Household table for 14 ladles and fcentlemen resident in the household.. 140 Servants' table for 30 of the upper servants (the remainder, numbering about 380, are on board wages). 75 Total $300 This estimate was equal to an allow ance of $140,000 odd per annum for the whole of the catering expenses, and Lord Farquhar, when ho resigned his position as Master of the Household, told King Edward that the catering ar rangements could be done as well as they are In any first rate big royal es tablishment .on his figures. His Lord ship allowed an additional $175,00G per annum for state banquets and the en tertainment of royal visitors, which has not been exceeded. But a year after Lord Farquhar re linquished control of the affairs of the royal household, the catering bills had risen to $175,000 a year, and they have risen to $200,000 a year since King George came to the throne. But tills rise is due, not to any increased ex travagance, but to the fact that there are several strong, healthy and hungry young Princes an a Princess to be fed, waited on, and generally looked after. Preventing- Food Waste. King George, after going very care fully into the household accounts has arrived at the perfectly sensible con clusion that almost without perceptibly decreasing the quality or quantity of the food provided at the various tables in the royal establishments the cater-, Ing expenses mlcht be reduced to Lord Farquhar's original estimate or $Mi, 000, which would enable his majesty to save $60,000 a year on this head. Part of this can be saved in check ing waste, and part in putting a stop to needless luxuries and extravagancies. The servants' table is especially extrav agant the upper servants have a late dinner at 7 at which never less than five courses are served and In addition a quart of whiskey, four syphons of soda water and three bottles of port wine are sent up to the servants' mess room every evening. At the servants' dinner some of the most costly dishes, such as roast ortalans, are frequently served and so pampered are these servitors of royalty that, to whet their appetites, sherry and bitters are now served to them before dinner. It Is pro posed to cut down the servants' dinner to a good plain three-course meal and to allow each 12 cents a night for beer or whisky, or whatever liquid they wish to drink, which they must supply to themselves. The waste that goes on In the royal establishment is enormous. Every night joints of beef and mutton, and chickens, pheasants and other birds that have scarcely been tasted leave both the household and royal tables to appear but once again in the form of cold side dishes at lunch. They then disappear. A certain amount of this food Is given away to the very poor, but the greater part of It is sold and the proceeds pooled among the upper servants. A significant fact In connection with the disposal of the food that leaves the royal and household tables Is that a retired royal servant runs a restaurant In Westminster, and no doubt his cus tomers often taste of the fare that a day or so previously appeared on the royal table. Under the new regime the supplies of food to all the royal residences will be cut down to something more in ac cordance with their real needs, and though it will be obviously impossible to put a stop to wasto altogether. It will be very considerably reduced. Economies are also to be effected n the present heavy annual sums'that King George and Queen Mary spend in traveling. Roughly speaking, the traveling expenses of the royal family and household amount in the year to about $125,000. So simple and short a journey as a move of the court from Buckingham Palace to York Cottage a railway Journey of but 102 miles seldom costs less than $1000. No Sperlal Trains for Court. A special train Is usually ordered, but the cost of this would be greatly lessened If the crowd of servants that usually moves with the court were re duced. At present some 60 servants move with the court, necessitating the chartering of two railway coaches in addition to the royal saloon in which the King and Queen and members of the household travel and then there are always at least three, luggage vans chartered. In future, when the court moves be tween London and York Cottage or Windsor Castle, the journey will be made by ordinary trains unless on spe cial occasions, the royal saloon being, of course, provided for the King and Queen. But the number of servants that will move with tne court and the quantity of luggage taken will bo greatly reduced, and by this economy the King will save at least $350 every journey, which will amount to a gross total saving of not less than $3000 In the year. The cost of all the royal Jour- (Concluded on Page 6.) CHARLES DANA GIBSON'S PICTURE-STORY "A WIDOW AND HER FRIENDS" . i ,mm i I, I i.i... I ill i -i--m-ta J ' 4 SOME THINK THAT SHE HAS REMAINED IN RETIREMENT TOO LONG. OTHERS. ARE SURPRISED THAT SHE IS ABOUT SO SOON. NEXT WEEK SHE IS THE SUBJECT OF MORE HOSTILE CRITICISM.