Civil Servant

(See Cover)

King John, a Plantaganet issued the Magna Charta. Henry VIII, a Tudor, acquired a kingly record for marriages. Elizabeth, another Tudor, made England mistress of the seas. Charles I, a Stuart, lost his head in a palace courtyard. George III, a Hanover, kept his pig-head and lost his country the richest half of North America. Victoria, a Saxe-Coburg, became Empress of India.

This week the 40th of this long line of monarchs also made history. He set out to visit: 1) a Dominion in which no British Sovereign had ever set foot; 2) a hemisphere never penetrated in person by any ruling King of Great Britain; 3) the nation which but for the stupidity of his great -great -great -Grandfather George, would today be the richest dominion of his Empire.

George VI--By the Grace of God, of Great Britain, Ireland and of the British

Dominions Beyond the Seas, King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India--head of an empire that covers one-fourth of the earth's surface and has 500,000,000 subjects, would probably have been the envy of that ambitious little monarch Henry VIII. The luckless, unpopular Stuarts would have grown green with jealousy had they been able to witness the crowds which last week cheered as King George and his consort, Queen Elizabeth, drove in state from London's stately Buckingham Palace to drab Waterloo Station, there to catch a special boat train for Portsmouth. Almost any of Britain's past crowned heads would have admired the scene at Portsmouth:

Thousands on the docks shouting "God bless you!" "A happy voyage!" "Give our love to America!" Seventy-one-year-old Queen Mary, the Queen Mother, wiped tears from her eyes. The King's daughters, Princess Elizabeth, 13-year-old heir-presumptive to the throne, and Princess Margaret Rose, 8, waved handkerchiefs. An obsequious bevy of Ministers, Neville Chamberlain, Lord Halifax, Sir Samuel Hoare, lined up to say goodby. The great white liner provided for the King's conveyance--Canadian Pacific's 25-year-old Empress of Australia, formerly the German Tirpitz--the spoils of a victorious war, flew the white ensign of the Royal Navy, the yellow-&-red Admiralty flag, the red, blue & gold royal standard bearing the arms of the United Kingdom.

Nor was this all that his predecessors might have envied George VI. They loved pomp and he has lords in waiting, grooms in waiting, gentlemen ushers, pages of honor, equerries in waiting, gentlemen-at-arms, yeomen of the guard, ladies of the bedchamber all about his palace; time has increased the number of the King's retainers. Although there is no longer a court fool, His Majesty still has a court sculptor, an organist, a keeper of the swans, a master of the King's music, a painter and limner, a botanist, a historiographer, some 59 ministers of the gospel for his soul, some 40 medical specialists for his body.

Moreover His Majesty can (and does) move about four great and sumptuous palaces: Buckingham in London; Sandringham House in Norfolk; Balmoral Castle in Scotland; Windsor on the Thames. A royal train is at his service, he owns one of the biggest private yachts in the world, the Victoria and Albert. Nor is His Majesty's income anything to sneeze at. The Government allows him $2,050,000 yearly, none of it taxable. For that matter all revenue is paid to him in the name of the Crown. If he took a notion, he could--theoretically--auction off the British Navy tomorrow to Germany, Japan, Italy, Russia or any other country. It ought to bring a good price, and he "owns" it personally.

Despite all this, no flight of the historical imagination is needed to make sense of the fact that not one of England's great self-willed monarchs were they alive today, would voluntarily wear George Vl's crown if they had to bear his cross.

What the British Kings have gained in titles during the last 200 years they have lost in power.

Even Victoria had her quarrels with Gladstone; Edward VII had his gay eccentricities, was partly instrumental in effecting the pre-War Anglo-French Entente; George V in a national emergency took a hand in the formation of the National Government of James Ramsay MacDonald; Edward VIII used to throw away documents which his Ministers had "advised" him to read.

But the tall, boyish-looking, studious man of 43 who last week sailed from England to visit one of his Dominions Beyond the Seas knows that he cannot afford even such luxuries. He must not quarrel with Ministers, must not interfere with politics. He is, in fact, virtually a highly paid civil servant whose job is to be a symbol of empire.

That this is the case is not the fault of George VI. As Albert Frederick Arthur

George, second son of George V, he was trained for the Navy, as a studious midshipman was nicknamed "Dr. Johnson." As a naval sublieutenant he served in a gun turret on the H. M. S. Collingswood at Jutland in 1916, biggest World War naval engagement.

As a Prince he had hobbies which his parents approved--boys' camps, radios, electric gadgets, motorcycling. As a person he had the drawbacks of none too good health, of being unusually shy, stammering. (Of stammering an Australian-born Harley Street specialist cured him, at least for the purposes of private conversation.) As a King he has to lead a life patterned on those of his parents, George V and Queen Mary, for Edward VIII's experience showed that any other pattern was not acceptable. This means that he has to live on a clocklike schedule, go to Sandringham for Christmas; to Windsor for Easter, and Ascot Race week; to Balmoral in August or September. He has had to show a regal capacity to endure boredom patiently--for which the British public, almost forgetting that Edward VIII ever happened, has taken him and his Queen to its heart.*

But King George's freedom and authority are restricted as much by the emergency under which he came to the throne as by tradition, ancient or recent. Today the great British Empire is held together by virtually nothing save the Crown. While Britain is threatened at home by the march of dictators in Europe, the strength of that tie is vital.

Eire, the place where that tie barely exists--even the King's Viceroy is not welcome in Dublin--already counts itself only half a member of the Empire, has already opposed conscription of any Irishman (see p. 26). The Union of South Africa, with a heavily pro-German population, has already indicated it might remain neutral in case of war. His Majesty's advisers have not yet seen fit to advise the Emperor of India to go to tempestuous, independence-seeking India for a coronation durbar. Burma is in turmoil, Northern Ireland has its difficulties, trouble is recurrently popping up in Palestine, Jamaica, South Africa, Ceylon. The Empire is menaced at many points--Gibraltar, Malta, Suez, Hong Kong.

With an Empire thus shaken, divided and threatened George VI has no choice but to try to preserve it by increasing the popularity of his throne. Which means that he cannot afford to antagonize anyone, must accede to the demands made upon him. His trip to Canada and to the U. S. is such a demand.

So last week George VI, his teeth newly cleaned and his eyes (overstrained by reading closely typed reports) hidden behind two pairs of glasses, was tossing about on the North Atlantic. His suite on the sunless starboard side of the ship (the Queen had the port suite) still smelled of paint although the odor had been partly removed by pails of water filled with sliced onions.

All to himself he had a large silver-plated iron bedstead. Almost to themselves he and the Queen had the great ship, built to accommodate 1,200 passengers. In an effort to be a little cozy they dined sitting opposite each other at a refectory table in the smoking room, the ten members of their personal staff taking turns sitting next to them; two equerries at the far ends of the table serve as wine tasters. Their 18 domestic servants were quite enough to take care of their needs, but the ship's regular staff of 400--fearful that they wouldn't get tipped as well as they would by a full load of passengers--were also at their call.

They deserved a good voyage. As the Ottawa Journal predicted, "not a royal tour but a royal torture" awaited them in Canada: 8,000 miles and 28 days of almost continuous travel, 22 nights on the train. Their accommodations will be two cars of the Governor-General, Lord Tweedsmuir, better known as Novelist John Buchan. Canada's Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, a distant cousin of the Queen, will stick by them through the whole grueling experience. In Ottawa alone they will give a garden party and two official dinners for Canada's great and Canada's guests, including the newly appointed U. S. Minister "Uncle Dan" Roper, former Secretary of Commerce.

The Dominion and the British Governments will split the expense of the trip, as well they might. Both will be the gainers if George can announce, after his return to England as he did after his Australian tour in 1927: "I return to London a thorough optimist. If we hold together we shall win through."

*Britons were reminded again this week of their former King, as the Duke of Windsor, broadcasting from once-bloody Verdun, addressed a finely phrased, sincere plea for peace to the peoples and rulers of the world: "Peace is a matter far too vital ... to be treated as a political question. . . . Statesmen . . . must act as good citizens of the world and not only as good Frenchmen, Italians, Germans, Americans or Britons." The BBC under orders from Prime Minister Chamberlain and Canadian stations boycotted the speech as "untimely"; Britons with short wave sets (including Queen Alary, according to the London Daily Mirror) picked up the U. S. re-broadcast.

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