Servants swept as they worked

THE KING died, as he would have wished, at home. On Tuesday he was in good spirits and apparently in mending health after an operation on his left lung 18 weeks ago.

Before 9 am — earlier than usual — the King was out hare-shooting. We were told last night: ‘The King was in great form. He shot well, and laughed and joked. We all said the Norfolk air was doing him good.’

After lunch back at Sandringham, the King was out shooting again in the afternoon. That night he dined alone with the Queen and Princess Margaret.

At 10.45 pm he retired to bed in the great room at Sandringham where his father, King George V, once slept.

Just before 7.15 am, His Majesty’s under-valet, Mr MacDonald, began to run the King’s bath, then went in with tea for his master.

He drew back the curtains and then made the discovery that was to shock the world three-and-ahalf hours later. The news was broken to his wife Queen Elizabeth by one of her staff.

At 8 am, speculation in the village began when they saw Dr J. L. Ansell, the King’s local doctor, driving at speed into Sandringham, wearing his overcoat over his pyjamas.

Meanwhile, from the youngest maid servant below stairs up to Captain Fellowes, the King’s agent, the staff carried on with their jobs, most of them crying as they worked.

When, at 10.45 am, the announcement of the King’s death was made from Sandringham House, a wave of sorrow and shock swept over the world at large, but in more intense degree here — among the King’s own people.

Mr Dodds, the King’s head gamekeeper, was red- eyed with weeping. Mr Parker, the village shopkeeper, who last night draped his ‘By appointment’ Royal Arms with crepe, cried like a girl.

So did scores of other grown men who thought the King the finest man they had met.

The sadness around Sandringham is so deep it cannot be described. There was an old road-sweeper who had known the King all his life. His affection was so great that they hesitated for nearly four hours about telling him the news. It was feared he might collapse.

When finally he was told, his grief was so great that he had to be helped into a gamekeeper’s cottage to rest and recover.