The Crown

Again last week new King Edward emphasized his pro-German leanings. At a great reception in Buckingham Palace to representatives of all nations, His Majesty kept the line of notables moving briskly past his receiving dais until German Foreign Minister Baron Constantin von Neurath's turn came. Then the remainder of the long line waited while King and Baron had a conversation of some minutes in fluent German. After the whole line had finally passed into the next room, His Majesty joined Baron von Neurath for a much longer conversation. The German Press was exuberant at this portent, while that of France remained grimly silent on King Edward's much-observed gesture. Of British statesmen not in the pro-German camp, none was more sorely troubled than Home Secretary Sir John Simon, who as Foreign Secretary was definitely pro-French. The prestige of Sir John, when his great mind unburdens itself to Britain of a legal opinion, is unrivaled. This was shown in 1926 when a speech by Sir John Simon giving his opinion that the leaders of Britain's General Strike were liable to suit for heavy damages so scared them as to become a major factor in their prompt decision to call the Strike off. Last week Sir John Simon betook himself to a microphone connected with a Continental hook-up and made a speech in French. "In years gone by the Kings of England exercised great personal power," Sir John told anxious Frenchmen. "One of our writers has aptly remarked that the King of England in his relations with his Ministers has kept three 'rights'--the right to be informed, the right to advise and the right to warn. . . . Nowadays the King always acts on the advice of his Ministers, who themselves are responsible to Parliament." This bucket of juridical cold water flung over the new King by radio was utterly unprecedented. First advice to Edward VIII last week came from the heads of the British fighting services. They advised His Majesty to promote himself retroactively, as of the day after George V's death, to the ranks of Admiral of the Fleet, Field Marshal and Marshal of the Royal Air Force. This advice His Majesty was graciously pleased to act upon at once. Expostulations began coming in from Scotland that since His Majesty has not been separately proclaimed King "of England" but jointly and indissolubly "of the United Kingdom" it is "impossible" for him to bear the title Edward VIII. He is, the Scots stubbornly contended, King Edward II of the United Kingdom, since England's first six Edwards were Kings neither of Scotland nor of the United Kingdom. In many things His Majesty must defer to his Scottish subjects. Indeed the first act of any British Monarch after his accession is to take the oath by which he swears to defend the Church of Scotland. Last week's row about "Edward II," however, was simply ignored by Edward VIII. He officially designated his mother "Queen Mary" and she will therefore not be known as the Queen Mother or Dowager Queen, designations out of keeping with the great warmth of British affection undoubtedly felt by all classes for Her Majesty. She now receives $350,000 per year.

At Buckingham Palace, the first floor waiting room in which people who asked to see Lord Wigram, private secretary to His late Majesty, once used to cool their heels, was taken by the new King for his own private office last week, apparently because it immediately connects with out doors, permitting His Majesty to pop in, sign papers and pop out. The heavily-lacquered Chinese furniture Wigram liked was carted away. The King sat down last week at a large, flat-topped desk facing two armchairs of office type and three paintings of race horses owned by His late Majesty. In a period of mourning, horses from the royal stables cannot race with His Majesty's silks, but if they do not race, the expensive brutes would simply "eat their heads off." This dilemma was solved after King Edward VII's death when King George leased his horses to the Earl of Derby. Last week huge Derby's check book was out again and Edward VIII accepted a handsome sum. Announced Lord Derby: "His Majesty has graciously authorized me to say that he has every intention of continuing the royal connection with the turf, both as regards the racing stables and the stud, which has lasted now through so many generations. They will be kept entirely apart from my own stable and run quite separately. This arrangement will continue till the end of the pres ent racing year." Greatest innovation by King Edward last week was to receive in private audience a person King George always positively refused to receive, the Soviet Union representative, Foreign Minister Maxim Maximovich Litvinoff. His late Majesty privately considered members of the Soviet Government the "bloody murderers" of his first cousin Tsar Nicholas II and the Tsar's family.

Afterward His Excellency, in flagrant violation of accepted usage, divulged his first conversation with a British king, saying of His Majesty: "He said he was glad to receive me and that his father would have been glad to receive me. He asked me why we had to have a Revolution in Russia and I explained. He then asked why we had to execute the Tsar and I explained why. He impressed me as a mediocre young Englishman who reads one newspaper a day."

In a touching demonstration of British loyalty to the new King, aristocratic Jacobites and Cavaliers postponed from last week to March 27 their annual rites commemorating the chopping off of the head of King Charles I in 1649. The significance of this execution, according to Jacobites & Cavaliers, is that all British Kings since 1688 have been "usurpers." This now amusing contention the present Royal Family has been accustomed not only to.wink at but to further, by sending trumpeters from the Royal Foot Guards to blow a great fanfare in Trafalgar Square, while it is loudly proclaimed each year that His Majesty is a usurper and that the true King is Albert Luitpold Ferdinand Michael Rupprecht. Rupprecht is the former Crown Prince of Bavaria and the British Crown is claimed for him because he is descended from beheaded Charles I. For this elaborate British joke neither new King Edward nor Jacobites & Cavaliers had stomach last week, but next month the brass will bray in form.

Numerous British newsorgans carried rumors that Edward VIII will go to each Dominion and be crowned its King, then to India for a grand Durbar coronation as Emperor. To light this week came the fact that under the Statute of Westminster the various Dominions have proclaimed Edward their King in different formulas, partly of their own devising. At Ottawa, for example, His Majesty was proclaimed "Supreme Lord in and over the Dominion of Canada," a title which rings exceedingly strange in English ears.

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