CHAPTER XIX 



Royalty in the Show Yard The Late King Edward Some Equine 

 Irreoonoilables The Area of Responsibility The Present King 

 An Accomplished Pony and an Enterprising Waiter. 



THE Society's Annual Show has been 

 honoured by the presence of Royalty 

 on several occasions, and for many 

 years past there has been a goodly display of 

 Royal stock in the show yard. The late King 

 Edward VII. identified himself in the most 

 practical way with the greatest of our national 

 industries, and lost no opportunity of testifying 

 his interest in it. The high standard he set 

 himself in everything he was responsible for was 

 illustrated by the quality of the stock of which 

 he was not only the exhibitor, but the breeder 

 also shown by him at the Bath and West meet- 

 ings and elsewhere. He honoured the Society 

 by becoming its patron when Prince of Wales 

 and by renewing the association on ascending 

 the throne. 



Long before I ever dreamt of seeing Royalty 

 in a show yard at close quarters, the late King's 

 form and features at that time in all the fresh- 

 ness of youth were very familiar to me, for, 

 when he was an undergraduate at Christ Church, 

 Oxford, I was making a not-too-willing acquaint- 

 ance with certain Latin and Greek authors at 



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