HC Deb 08 June 1888 vol 326 cc1531-2
MR. E. ROBERTSON (Dundee)

asked the Secretary of State for War, What change, if any, has been made in the military status of the Duke of Cambridge by the Letters Patent referred to in the following notice published in The London Gazette of November 29, 1887— The Queen has been pleased by Letters Patent passed under the Great Seal of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date the 26th instant, to appoint His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, K.G., to be Commander-in-Chief of Her Majesty's Forces"?

THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. E. STANHOPE) (Lincolnshire, Horncastle)

No practical change in His Royal Highness's military status results from the issue of Letters Patent constituting His Royal Highness Commander-in-Chief. His powers in regard to the Army and to the Secretary of State remain unaltered. It has been customary for the Sovereign, from time to to time, to mark his appreciation of the exceptional services of certain officers who have held the office of General Commanding-in-Chief by conferring upon them this dignity; and it will, I think, be generally conceded that His Royal Highness's services to the country fully deserve such a mark of the Sovereign's approbation.

MR. E. ROBERTSON

said, what he really wanted to know was, whether the intention of the issue of those Letters Patent was to confer on His Royal Highness a life tenure of his office?

MR. E. STANHOPE

I have already explained that there is no real alteration in the military status of His Royal Highness.

MR. E. ROBERTSON

Does he hold the office for life?

MR. E. STANHOPE

I say that there are no terms at all.