Evening Star Newspaper, April 30, 1937, Page 25

The “Queen Consort” She Is Only the Wif, e of the King, With No Rights to Rule. (This is the sixth of a series of & articles on symbolism and sidelights | of the coronation ceremony.) | BY THOMAS R. HENRY. T WILL not, strictly speaking, be “Queen Elizabeth.” The wife of George the Sixth will be crowned as Queen-Consort. There is & narrow, but very significant | difference. A queen is an actual ruler, inherit- ing the throne by her own right, and exercising all the political rights of | royalty. Mary the First, the “‘Bloody Mary” of history, was such a queen. She came to the throne because, after the death of her brother, who left no heirs, she was the eldest daughter of much-married Henry the Eighth and | there were no male descendants. She married Spain’s Philip the Sec- ond, who later launched the Span-i ish Armada against England. Her marriage to Philip did not make him king of England. He was, for a time, the king-consort, but he had no execu- tive power whatsoever. Mary pro- ceeded to be queen, with a vengeance for all the wrongs she had endured. She died childless and was succeeded, in due form, by her younger sister, Elizabeth, the sole remaining heir of | Henry the Eighth. Elizabeth's status, socially and politically, was exactly the same as that of a king. William and Mary. The next episodé is that of William and Mary, which superficially seems to be an anomaly. James the Second “abandoned” the throne—that is, he fled from England before Parliament had time to force his abdication. By precedent the crown should have gong to his son, who had fled with his father’ He was a Catholic and militant Protes- tantism was in the saddle. | | QUEEN ELIZABETH. line, and the cruel John saw to it that the little boy was most effectively removed. But beside all this, the wicked monarch was declared King by Parliament and in his coronation sermon the Archbishop of Canterbury said boldly: “It is well known to you all that no man hath rigl't of succes- sion to this throne, except that by unanimous consent of the kingdom, with invocation of the Holy Ghost, he be elected for his own deserts. If, indeed, of the family of the deceased monarch there be one then pre-emi- nently endowed, he should have our preference.” Parliament, it would seem, has by THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, FRIDAY, APRIL 30, 1937. could have an actual king and queen at the same time. In the final analysis, it would seem, & queen-consort has a part in a cor- onation ceremony only by courtesy of her husband—however strongly this courtesy may be dictated by tradition. This is borne out by the fact that little over a century ago a most obnoxious cad—although he prided himself as “the first centleman of Europe"— ordered his wife, with whom he was | not living at the time, barred from | Westminster Abbey during the corona- tion services. Nothing was done about | 1t. It Was George the Fourth. This single instance of a ‘“queen” not allowed at her own coronation oc- cured at the investiture of George the Fourth. Queen Charlotte arrived at the door of Westminster Abbey attended by | Lord Hood, a friend. The doorkeep- ers barred the way and requested to see their tickets. “This is your queen,” said Lord | Hood “Surely it is not necessary for ‘her to have a ticket?” | “Our orders are to admit no person | | without a ticket.” | “But this is the queen,” Hood re- | peated. Queen Charlotte “Yes, I am the queen. | mit me?” | "My orders are specific,” said the doorkeeper,” and I feel myself bound to obey them.” ‘The queen laughed. “I have a ticket,” said Hood. “Then, my lord, I will let you pass upon producing it.” Hood showed his ticket, made out in the name of the Duke of Wellington. “This is good for one of you,” said the doorkeeper. Her escort urged the Queen to go in alone but she refused. Some persons gathered around began to bco her. She retired to her carriage and was driven away. | smiled sweetly. Will you ad- NEW WAR DEPARTMENT ITEM ONLY POSTPONED Third Deficiency Bill May Include Appropriation for Con- struction. Omission of the construction item for a proposed new War Department from the second deficiency bill as reported to the House does not necese sarily mean that this new building has succumbed to President Roose- velt's economy program, it was learned officially today. This item, along with all other items for public construction, was postponed, to be considered as part of a third deficiency bill. Whether the War Department will be included in the third bill still is a question, but the item. has not yet been defi- nitely discarded. President Roosevelt recommended to Congress the construction of a new War Department on a site bounded by Twenty-first, Twenty-third, C and E streets, and proposed an immedi- ate appropriation to begin purchase of land and preliminary work. o Twenty thousand lemon plants, mostly from America, will be planted in Russia. e o O S N WL Nty D e —— JULIUS GARFINCKEL & COMPANY Our Styles Have That Smart, Young Look That Is So Loved by MISSES .. . JUNIORS . .. AND GIRLS ""Perfect' is certainly the word that best describes the lovely new things we are constantly showing on our Fourth and Sixth Floors for young moderns and Saturday is the day to see them. Entirely new showings tomorrow . . ', dresses, suits, coats, Greenbrier Sportswear, hats, blouses, shoes and all accessories. You'll love every one of them. F STREET AT FOURTEENTH . ! THE NEW JellefTs 1214-1220 F Street £ // Ty See what TOMORROW brings! Your choice of ALL our %6.50 Hats Parliament proceeded to exercise its | much disputed prerogative of “elect- | ing” a ruler. It went only so far as| to offer the throne to the exiled King's oldest daughter, Mary, herself a Protestant and married to the Prot- | estant Prince of Orange. William | exercised his prerogatives as a husband, He was the ruler of the Netherlands. He refused to be merely “prince con. sort” of England, and Parliament conformed to his very human preju- | dice. William was ‘“elected” King ancient usage the right of election | and might conceivably elect anybody whatsoever—with the exception, under existing law, of a Catholic. But by tradition the person elected is always | the nearest surviving heir of the late ules, so an actual election is un- | necessary unless circumstances arise which make the presumptive heir, in the opinion of the kingdom, a totally unfit person for the office. Moreover, | more than one person can be elected and rule jointly—as a man and wife in | ; Cuba-Cool Exclusive in Washington with L. Frank & Co. 12¢h AND F STREETS A Suit Event Brand-new special purchases— PLUS eand Mary, Queen. | Her position was very different from | that of queen consort. An act of| Parliament, in order to be legal, had | to have the signatures of both herself and her husband. They were joint rulers, elected specifically as such. | Mary did not owe her status to having married a certain man. She was Queen in her own right She died childless and was suc- eeeded by her sister, Anne, the wife of a Dan prince. Prince Georges County, Maryland, is named for him and is perhaps the poor man's only He was prince consort of England—a status far different from that of William the Third. His fat, frowsy wife was Queen. Official docu- ments bore her signature only. Prince George was just Anne's husband, whereas the Prince of Orange had been equal royal partner. Victoria Had Consort, Too, So it was with Victoria. She be- came Queen of England because, in the absence of male heirs, she was next in line of succession o William the Fourth. Her husband, the great grandfather of the present King, was only prince consort without any gov- erning prerogatives whatsoever. He was a very popular man with the | English people, but it sometimes has | been said that the anomolous status | of being just a woman's husband | eontributed to his untimely death. | In only one case, that of William eand Mary, has an actual royal couple ruled England. It is almost incon- ceivable that such a situation ever £hould arise again. It existed only because Parliament willed that 4t £hould be so—and the right of Par- liament to bring about any such sta- tus a source of trouble for a century. The dispute hinged upon the authority of Parliament to pass over the strict line of descent—even by a single step, as in that case—and ket up somebody else as monarch. Both the son and grandson of Mary's ll-fated father staged unsuccessful rebellions which enlisted a great deal | of popular support. Bonnie Prince Charlie was an idol in Scotland and northern England, and readers of “Anthony Adverse” will recall the | &tubborn refusal of followers of the Btuarts to submit to those whom they | considered illegitimate rulers. | There s, in fact, a fine legal point | es to whether a monarch of Great Britain comes to the throne solely by right of birth, or by election. With very few exceptions the right of the | next in line of succession has been unquestioned. but these exceptions may constitute evidence that the elec- tion procedure is merely telescoped in the coronation formalities. Days of John Recalled. One precedent dates back to the accession of that evil King John— John is an unlucky name in the an- nals of British royal families—whose signature was forced to the Magna Charta and who supposedly put out the eyes of his little nephew, Arthur of Brittany, with a red hot iron, because the child threatened his right to the throne. Richard the Lion-hearted had died childless. John was his only surviving | brother. Arthur was the eldest Chlld} of & dead elder brother. There was a | fine dispute as to which was next in | the case of William and Mary. 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