The Henson Journals

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Quinquagesima, February 2nd, 1913. Windsor Castle.

My guardian servant called me at 7.30 a.m., & brought me some excellent tea. I had a bath quite comfortably, & managed to find my way to S. George's Chapel, where the Holy Communion was celebrated at 8.30 a.m. I received the Sacrament, marvelling at the strange Providences which have led me to do so here & now.

Then I returned to the Castle & had breakfast pleasantly enough with the Household. The intervening hour before service time was spent in giving a final revision to my poor little discourse, & in writing a letter to Carissima. Then I was fetched at 10.45 a.m., & escorted to the Chapel, where I found the Dean of Windsor. Here I robed, & (after raising pins from the servants) got my medals on to my scarf. There was a Choir of 6 men & 8 boys from S. George's. Sir Walter Parratt was at the Organ, & the service was excellently rendered. The Dean read & monotoned the service: I read the lessons, & preached. The Chapel is an Octagon, one facet of which provides (in the gallery) the Royal Pew. This was occupied by the King, the Queen, Princess Christian, & Princess Mary. In the next pew was Prince Alexander of Teck with his wife & child.

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The congregation consisted of the Household, & the Servants. Perhaps there may have been about 60 persons present. My sermon occupied about 17 minutes to deliver, & was listened to with the closest attention. There was no coughing. Afterwards I returned to my room, & remained there until lunch–time. Here I sate beside Lady Ampthill, & had a pleasant enough meal. Fortescue, the Librarian, is a great talker, but he seems also keen & well–informed. After lunch he took me into the Library, which is a noble Elizabethan gallery full of interesting things. Miss Baring joined us here, &, when Mr Fortescue withdrew, she walked me through divers parts of the Palace pointing out the pictures &c. About 3.15 p.m. I went out, picked up Ella at the Deanery, & walked with her to Eton, where we called on the Provost. He reports himself as having been recently prostrated by influenza: & indeed seemed extremely feeble on his legs. We walked back to the Deanery, & had tea. Then we went into S. George's Chapel for Evensong. The singing is marvellously sweet & finished. After Service we called on Canon & Mrs Dalton: & then returned to the Deanery, where I chatted with the Dean & the ladies for half an hour; after which I made my way back to my room, and wrote up my journal.

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At dinner I took in Mrs Adeane, the daughter of Lord Stamfordham: & was placed next Princess Christian, who herself was next the King. My poor lady got nothing out of me at all for I was held in conversation by her august rivals without intermission! The conversation took an ever more direct political colour. His Majesty expressed himself with astonishing freedom. He had been reading the "Spectator", & was much excited over the article on Home Rule. He is evidently very bitter about the humiliation which the Government inflicted on him by exacting 'pledges': & talks darkly about 'something he has up his sleeve', which, at the eleventh hour, shall prevent the Home Rule Bill from becoming law. Princess Christian strongly supported His Majesty's determination, & begged me in a whisper 'to keep him up to it'! When we had gone into the Drawing Room, Lord Stamfordham had an earnest conversation with me on the same themes. I said that the King must assert himself: that he wd never have so good an opportunity: that he wd but take the right, which had been wrested from the House of Lords, of appealing to the people: that the nation wd understand & support him if he took his course strongly & clearly. The King, on his return from the Smoking room, came directly to me, & drawing a chair sate down, & bade me be seated. He then renewed the conversation with much earnestness. His Majesty is evidently [274] [symbol] in much confusion & distress of mind. 'I speak to you in confidence', he said, 'but I was basely treated in that matter of guarantees. They knew I was in a difficult position, & forced my hand'. He seemed to feel strongly the unpopularity in Ireland, which his vetoing of Home Rule would bring. 'I shd never be able to visit Ireland', he said. He entered on quite an elaborate exposition of the constitutional position of the monarchy, & certainly his views did not err on the side of exaggeration. He said that Asquith seemed to him a weak man: that Grey was well known to him & well liked, but unhappily was a sentimental Radical. It is sufficiently evident that the Ministers have been pressing him sore.

The Queen came across the room to me before retiring, & said some pleasant words to me. I begged her, when going to Scotland, to break her journey at Durham, & let me shew her the Cathedral.

Sir Walter Parratt was dining. I had some conversation with him. He says that the choirboys of St George's are mostly the sons of gentlemen, that their parents have to contribute no less than £70 for the first year, & not less than £20 for the last. Only 2 candidates applied for the last vacancy. At Durham, where the whole cost of education is provided, we had no less than 60 candidates for admission at the last vacancy.

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Reflecting on this conversation with the King, I could not but feel distressed: for either His Majesty is wont to pour out himself thus freely to everybody, & then he must be amazingly indiscreet: or he did so to me specially for some unimaginable reason, & then he must be greatly troubled. He certainly gave me the impression of a well–intentioned but weak man, who was conscious of an obligation to take some decisive action, but unable to determine what precise action that should be. Evidently Princess Christian, a stronger character by far, was in a great concern about him, & very eager to stiffen him to decision. He harps frequently on the theme that he was badly treated by the Ministry, & indeed on that point expresses himself with some vigour. He has no 'personal magnetism' as the Americans would say, & gives an impression of feeble perplexity, which must needs alarm a considering patriot. I find it difficult not to think that he is at the mercy of the latest speaker: &, indeed, in a discussion with such men as the present Ministers, he could not but be overborne. I told him that the suspensive veto which was until the Parlt Act possessed & exercized by the House of Lords must now be claimed & used by the Crown: that if he used it in the case of the Home Rule Bill, he would be supported by the country: but if not supported, he could give his Assent to the Bill when endorsed by the constituencies without any loss of credit.

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The King said that in his opinion the Sovereign ought always to be a woman, because no one would put such pressure on a woman as had been put on himself. 'You mean, Sir', I said, 'that chivalry would restrain them'. 'Yes', he said, 'chivalry would make it impossible'.

I reminded him of the fate of Louis XVI who gained a brief popularity by sacrificing the Church & the Nobility, which had stood between him & the mass of the people, & who soon found himself crushed. His Majesty admitted the relevance of the parallel to his own position.

The next day, Monday the 3rd Feb., I returned to Dean's Yard, having picked up Ella on the way. Of tips to the Royal Servants I gave £1. to the kindly youth who looked after me, & 10/– to the footman who placed my bag in the railway carriage. Also I left 5/– on the dressing table for the housemaid.

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Ballade Tragique – a double Refrain.

Scene. Windsor Castle. Time. Present.

Enter a Lord & Lady in Waiting.

She.

Slow pass the hours, ah, passing slow!

My doom is worse than anything

Conceived by Edgar Allan Poe.

The Queen is duller than the King.

He.

Lady, your mind is wandering,

You babble what you do not mean,

Remember for your heartening

The King is duller than the Queen.

She.

No! most emphatically No!

To one firm rooted fact I cling

In my now chronic vertigo

The Queen is duller than the King.

He.

Lady, you lie. Last evening

I found him with a Rural Dean

Talking of district Visiting –

The King is duller than the Queen.

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She.

At any rate he doesn't sew,

You don't find him embroidering

Yard upon yard of calico.

The Queen is duller than the King.

Oh that I might have had my fling

With, say, the Empress Josephine.

He.

Enough of your self–pitying

The King is duller than the Queen.

She.

The Queen is duller than the King.

He.

Then death for you can have no sting.

(Stabs her, & takes a phial out of his pocket)

Nevertheless, sweet Friend, Strychnine

The King is duller than the Queen.

(Drinks & dies in agony)

Lady Ilbert sent me the above lines, of which she did not know the authorship. I heard them attributed to Hilaire Belloc.

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My last week was filled with farewell dinners in defiance of Lent. On Monday the 3rd, the Brotherhood dined with me. There were present Shelford, Alford, Woods, Gow, Pearce, Inge, & myself. On Tuesday the 4th we dined with the Ballances. Sir Thomas Barlow was there, & Dr Tait. Mine host privily expressed to me his disgust at the mismanagement of the testimonial. Herein I think he was unfair to the Churchwardens: nor did he realize that what was fitting in such a church as S. Peter's, Vere Street, would not suit the dignity of St Margaret's. Of course, if more considerable & experienced men (in these matters) than the excellent Churchwardens had had the business in hand, they would undoubtedly have raised three times as much money: but perhaps it has been as well as it is. Anyhow, I devoutly hope that the indignant Ballance will restrain his criticisms: for they must give pain, & can do no possible good. For my part I still hold that testimonials are mainly degrading.

On Ash Wednesday we dined quietly (!) with the Murrays. Buff is amazingly attractive. On Thursday the 6th I dined with Harold in his own house. The party (Sir Henry Graham, Sir Kenneth, Liddell, Jack Scott & myself) was depressed by memories, and (considering its components) wonderfully dull. On Friday the 7th we dined with that dullest of good men, Godfrey Benson, now Lord Charnwood. General Munro & his wife, & Ernest Moon & his wife made up the party.

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Issues and controversies: irish home rule