302 King Edward Dead [ I 9 10 



used to be about the Court, the Jews and the second-rate women that 

 the King preferred to his aristocracy, because they amused him. The 

 Prince of Wales hates all these, and will have nothing to do with them. 

 The King is a Radical, though not a Socialist. He told me once that 

 he had gone to hear Gambetta speak, and that he spoke so well that 

 he had half converted him to be a republican. He is a clever man and 

 a great King. His death will be a great loss.' 



" Meynell and Khaparde dined with me. We feel sure that if the 

 King dies the whole question of the Veto will be shelved, at any rate, 

 for a time, as it will upset every calculation. The bulletins this evening 

 are very ominous. When I saw Lady C. to-day she repeated to me that 

 Kitchener was certain to be appointed Governor-General in India, as 

 they were afraid of having him here. She asked me whether I should 

 like to meet him at her house, but I said I would rather not, as I had had 

 a public quarrel with him about the Mahdi's head, and I related the 

 whole story to her. Khaparde thinks it would be a good thing for In- 

 dia if Kitchener went there, as it would bring the revolution to a 

 head. 



" Meynell tells me the sale of Thompson's works during the past 

 twelve months has gone to 18,000 volumes. Also that Father Angelo de 

 Bary is engaged to marry Miss Bunston! 



" yth May. — I was writing this of yesterday in bed at seven in the 

 morning when the milkman brought the news that the King died at 

 midnight. It is a very serious matter for all the world, for interna- 

 tionally Edward VII held a high position, and at home was a guarantee 

 against revolution. Personally, though I had never much to do with 

 him directly, I have regarded him as a friendly influence. Lady C. 

 has always assured me of this. We were pretty nearly contemporaries, 

 and I knew many people he knew. Peace be with him. 



" Down to Clouds by the one o'clock train. As I started on my way 

 to Waterloo Station I saw the Royal standard at half mast high on 

 Buckingham Palace, and bells were ringing for the new king, George V. 



" Clouds. It is a family party here, and in the middle of dinner 

 George arrived from London full of the news of King George's acces- 

 sion. He and Arthur Balfour had been telegraphed for in the morning 

 to attend a general meeting of the Privy Council, and he gave us the 

 whole story of what had taken place at it. It appears that on the 

 demise of the Crown all authority in the country ceases till the new King 

 is proclaimed, either by Parliament or the law officers or any other 

 body than the Privy Council, whose business it becomes to proclaim the 

 dead King's successor. In theory the King never dies, but until the 

 proclamation it is supposed to be in doubt who the King is, and it is the 

 Council that decides, the Council being the primitive Government of 

 England. At midnight, immediately after King Edward's death (for 



