Page:Life of Her Majesty Queen Victoria (IA lifeofhermajesty01fawc).pdf/142



has already been remarked that the Queen throughout her reign has shown herself a thorough woman in being a good domestic economist. It was quite in accordance with this trait in her character that she and the Prince very early in their married life set themselves the almost Herculean task of the reform of the Royal Household. They found it in thorough disorganization, replete with confusion, discomfort, and extravagance. Various branches of the domestic service in the palaces were under the Heads of Government Departments; no one was responsible for the order and good administration of the whole. To give some idea of the prevailing confusion, Stockmar's memorandum on the subject may be quoted where he points out that the Lord Chamberlain cleans the inside of the windows, and the Wood and Forests the outside. The degree of light admitted to the palace therefore depended on a good understanding between the two. Again, "The Lord Steward finds the fuel and lays the fire, the Lord Chamberlain lights it. … In the same manner the Lord Chamberlain provides all the lamps, and the Lord Steward must clean, trim, and light them." If a pane of glass in the scullery had to be replaced, or a broken lock mended, a requisition had to be signed and countersigned by no fewer than five different officials before the expenditure was finally sanctioned by the Woods and Forests, or the Lord Steward, as the case might