HIS MAJESTY THE LATE KING OF DENMARK. (Hansard, 16 May 1912)

THE LORD PRIVY SEAL AND SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (THE MARQUESS OF CREWE)

My Lords, I have the honour to move that an Address be presented to His Majesty to express the sorrow of this House at the loss which he and the Royal Family have sustained, and I also move that a similar Address be presented to Her Majesty Queen Alexandra on this sudden calamity which has befallen her. The personality of his late Majesty the King of Denmark was not very familiar in this country, less so perhaps than that of his illustrious father, who occupied the Throne of Denmark for so many years, but those who had had the privilege of meeting His Majesty will retain an impression of soldierly dignity accompanied by an unusual measure of geniality and kindness. We offer our respectful condolences to His Majesty the King, who has suffered more than an ordinary share of domestic bereavements since his Accession to the Throne, and we also offer them to our much-tried Queen Alexandra, who has had so many sorrows to bear. Her Majesty has been so entirely identified with English life, and has so completely shared all our national troubles and rejoicings that we might be tempted to forget—though I am certain we do not forget—that her affection for the home of her childhood has remained altogether unimpaired. I venture to think that if anything could add to the feelings of devotion and respect with which Her Majesty is regarded in this country, it would he that fact, because to everybody in this country it has been known that the happy home circle of the Court at Copenhagen has always supplied a model to those in exalted station. We have regarded with interest the affectionate family gatherings which have been held there during so many years, and we have admired the fine simplicity of life at that Court, a simplicity, indeed, which is illustrated by the particular circumstances of the deplorable event upon which we are offering our condolences to their Majesties to-day. In offering these condolences to His Majesty and to the Royal Family, and also to Queen Alexandra, we may be allowed, I trust, to express the respectful hope that His Majesty King Christian of Denmark may enjoy a long and prosperous reign over a nation for whom we feel such warm sympathy and 1073 friendship as we do for the people of Denmark.

§ THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE

My Lords, upon this sad occasion we are on this side of the House well content that the noble Marquess who leads the House should be regarded as the spokesman of the whole House, and not of one side of it alone. A friendly nation has been deprived prematurely of a Sovereign greatly endeared to his people at the end of an altogether too short reign. The late King of Denmark enjoyed the esteem of his subjects, no doubt in great measure owing to the amiability of his disposition, but also, no doubt, because he had known how to preserve consistently the attitude of a Constitutional Sovereign, and that in the midst of circumstances that were at times of a somewhat perplexing character. I think it is also, no doubt, the case, as the noble Marquess has told us, that the great simplicity of the late King's character helped to secure for him the affection of his subjects, a simplicity which characterised not only the whole of his life, but its closing hours. But, my Lords, we think of the late King of Denmark not only as the Ruler of his own people, but as the kinsman of our Royal Family, united to this country by many close ties. I do not think it is any exaggeration to say that the attachment of this country to Denmark—to the people of Denmark and to the Royal House of Denmark—has been of a specially close and intimate character ever since the memorable day when, nearly fifty years ago, a Danish Princess arrived on these shores to be the Consort of one British Sovereign and the mother of another. She came here also to establish over all British hearts an empire which neither time nor vicissitudes have been able to shake or to impair. It is in these circumstances that we desire to offer our sympathy to His Majesty the King, to those members of the Royal Family who with the King are mourning for the loss which they have sustained, and above all to Queen Alexandra, to whom, besides her great and overwhelming sorrow of two years ago, the last few years have brought so much domestic bereavement. My Lords, I gladly second the Motion which the noble Marquess has submitted to the House.