MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS ALICE—(QUEEN'S MESSAGE).—COMMITTEE. (Hansard, 6 May 1861)

§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTON

Sir, before the Orders of the Day are read I wish to submit a few remarks to the indulgent consideration of the House. It is usual when the Crown recommends to this House certain measures connected especially with the Royal Family that the earliest business day after the receipt of such a Message should he taken for its consideration, and that course was pursued in 1857, upon the marriage of Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal. The Message, I recollect, came down on Monday, and it was considered on the Friday, the next business day. It was our intention to have placed the consideration of the Message which Her Majesty recently sent as the First Order of the Day, but the House will recollect that its sitting was interrupted rather suddenly and unexpectedly on Friday night, and we had not the opportunity. I should hope, considering the nature of the matter and the respect due to the Crown, the House will not object to a Motion which I would submit, namely, that the First and Second Orders of the Day—the Committee of Ways and Means and Report of Supply—be postponed until after the Third and Fourth Orders, which relate to the Queen's Message relative to Her Royal Highness the Princess Alice, and the Committee of Supply thereupon; that being the order in which we think it better that the proposals we have to make should be considered. I therefore propose that the First and Second Orders of the Day be postponed until after the Third and Fourth Orders.

§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTON

Sir, the people of this country are proud, and justly proud, of the Royal Family which they have the happiness of seeing at their head, and we consider that not only the feelings of respect which the country bears towards that family, but that a due regard to the 1568 dignity of the country itself require that adequate provision should be made for maintaining the Royal Family in such a position as is necessary and consistent with the station it occupies. The Committee are aware of the arrangements which are made with the Crown at the beginning of a reign, when the domains of the Crown are made over to the public, and that in return a Civil List is voted for the Sovereign during the continuance of that reign. The Committee know also—at least those know who look back to what took place in 1837—that the provision which was made for the Sovereign in the present reign is less considerable than that which was made in the case of George III., which is the most analogous instance, inasmuch as in neither of the intervening reigns was there any large family to be provided for; and the Committee are further aware that during the present reign the Sovereign has kept strictly and entirely within the limits of the provision which has been made by Parliament, and that none of those large demands have been submitted to Parliament which in former reigns were, I am sorry to say, too frequent for the purpose of defraying extraordinary expenses or of making good debts incurred over and above the allowance. But, on the other hand, it was not understood nor intended that the provision which has been made for the ordinary current expenses of the Crown, and by means of which Her Majesty has been enabled to maintain her dignity in a manner consistent with the honour of the country, and with that generous hospitality which becomes the station she fills—that allowance was not intended also to provide for members of the family who might by marriage or by attaining a certain age require a certain separate and distinct provision. It was upon that principle that when the Princess Royal was married this House voted an annuity during her life and a dower as a sort of outfit in connection with the marriage, and it is my wish to propose to the Committee a proceeding precisely similar upon the present occasion. In the case of the Princess Royal, the House voted a dower of £40,000 and an annuity of £8,000; but, considering that the Princess Royal stood in a somewhat different position as first-born of the Royal Family from that of any of the junior members of the family, we are not going to propose now precisely the same provision as was made then.

1569 The provision, which, I think, on the one hand, is adequate to the circumstances; and, on the other, is not too great for the liberality of the House to grant, is a dower of £30,000 instead of £40,000, and an annuity of £6,000 instead of £8,000. I hope the House will concur in that arrangement, which I think will adequately provide for the suitable dignity of our Princess abroad, and is not too great a demand upon the liberality of the House. It is essential and in accordance with our laws, and, I may say, in accordance with our principles, that Princesses of the Royal Family should not contract marriages with subjects at home. It is essential that their marriages should be with Princes abroad, but it is also essential to the honour and dignity of this country that our Princesses should not go forth as paupers, and that wherever the blood Royal of England is found it should be accompanied by a sufficient provision, furnished by the people of England, to enable our Princesses to maintain a position consistent with the due respect which should always be entertained not only towards the Royal Family of Great Britain but towards the British nation itself. I do not know that it is necessary for me to trouble the Committee at greater length. The question is a simple one. We have followed the precedent established in the case of the Princess Royal—we have diminished the amounts in proportion to the difference between the first-born and a junior Princess of the Royal Family, and I hope the Committee will be disposed to agree at once to the Resolution which I shall submit. I should say that if the Committee shall agree to this Resolution a Bill will be founded upon it granting an annuity of £6,000. The dower can be voted only by a Committee of Supply, and if the Committee should acquiesce in the proposal which it has been my duty to submit, the course which I will take will be precisely similar to that pursued in the year 1857—it is that when this Committee has voted the Resolution I shall then propose that the House go into Committee of Supply merely for the purpose of voting a Resolution on the dower.