The Henson Journals

[418]

Thursday, October 31st, 1929.

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I left Edinburgh at 7.40 a.m., breakfasted on the train, and reached Newcastle at 10.15 a.m. There Leng met with the car, & drove me to Auckland, where I washed & changed. At 11.45 a.m. I left the Castle, & drove to Sunderland, where I lunched in the Town Hall, with a numerous company including the Duke of York, who had opened the Sunderland bridge. I sate beside the Prince, and had much and various talk with him. He is amiable, well–intentioned, and intelligent, but, I suspect, neither strong nor well–educated. I asked him whether he kept a private diary, in which to record his impressions of the people & places which he encountered & visited. "I have 3 books," he replied, "an engagement book, a sports book, and a game book, but no diary. My father has always kept a diary." This practice of the king is interesting.

I inquired whether he observed any difference between English & Scottish crowds: & he said that the Scottish come to look at first, & only, when they have, so to say, taken stock [419] of you, do they cheer. 'Do you, Sir, like your Royal Brothers, take pleasure in flying?' He replied in the negative, & gave as his main reason, the inconvenience arising from the remoteness of aerodromes.

'Sandringham is all right: there's an aerodrome within 4 miles.' After lunch, I bade H.R.H. farewell, and tried to find Leng & the car, intending to get to Durham for the meeting of the Lay Workers' Committee. But the crowd was so dense that Leng missed me, and I gained nothing by deserting the Royal party, and finally reached Durham too late for my meeting. However I picked up Ella at the Three Tuns, where she was attending some society or other, & so returned home.

Mr & Mrs Townley, friends of Ella, arrived on a brief visit. I was passably civil, but my sentiments were Neronian! However in this queer duet of married life much must be endured! Townley is clearly an intelligent and agreeable man, interested more than is commonly the case in ecclesiastical matters, a circumstance explicable by the fact that he was himself originally destined to be ordained.

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