KINDLY THOUGHTFULNESS 



this gave opportunity for one of those acts of 

 gracious courtesy of which the late King's life 

 was so full. As I walked by his side, hat in hand, 

 we had not gone many paces when he said to me, 

 " Please put on your hat ; it is not safe to go 

 without it on such a sunshiny day as this." Later 

 on in the day, when I was in attendance upon the 

 then Princess of Wales, the latter, with kindly 

 thoughtf ulness, also rendered me her debtor by 

 preferring a similar request. 



The St. Albans show yard was a very long one, 

 and the various departments were somewhat far 

 apart. Hence it was deemed desirable for Royalty 

 to traverse most of the ground in carriages, an 

 arrangement which, after the Dorchester ex- 

 perience, was calculated to lessen secretarial 

 anxieties. On this occasion there was an unusual 

 gathering of Royalties, for with the Prince and 

 Princess of Wales were Princess Victoria, Princess 

 Maud, and Prince Charles of Denmark. 



Their Royal Highnesses, who were staying at 

 Hatfield, were accompanied by the then Premier 

 (the Marquis of Salisbury) and the Marchioness, 

 the Secretary of State for War (the Marquis of 

 Lansdowne), the President of the Board of Agri- 

 culture (Mr. Walter Long), the President of the 

 Local Government Board (Mr. Chaplin), and other 

 notable personages. There was, consequently, 

 a fairly long string of carriages to be manoeuvred 

 amid the crowds of a show yard as they conveyed 

 these distinguished visitors to the several depart- 

 ments of the show. It was considered desirable 

 that the President (Lord Clarendon), with the 

 Secretary at his elbow, should receive the Royal 



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