scandalous; no reform had been practicable under
the rule of the Baroness; but her functions had now devolved upon
the Prince, and in 1844, he boldly attacked the problem. Three years
earlier, Stockmar, after careful enquiry, had revealed in an elaborate
memorandum an extraordinary state of affairs. The control of the
household, it appeared, was divided in the strangest manner between a
number of authorities, each independent of the other, each possessed
of vague and fluctuating powers, without responsibility, and without
co-ordination. Of these authorities, the most prominent were the Lord
Steward and the Lord Chamberlain--noblemen of high rank and political
importance, who changed office with every administration, who did not
reside with the Court, and had no effective representatives attached
to it. The distribution of their respective functions was uncertain
and peculiar. In Buckingham Palace, it was believed that the Lord
Chamberlain had charge of the whole of the rooms, with the exception of
the kitchen, sculleries, and pantries, which were claimed by the Lord
Steward. At the same time, the outside of the Palace was under the
control of neither of these functionaries--but of the Office of Woods
and Forests; and thus, while the insides of the windows were cleaned by
the Department of the Lord Chamberlain--or possibly, in certain cases,
of the Lord Steward--the Office of Woods and Forests cleaned their
outsides. Of the servants, the housekeepers, the pages, and the
housemaids were under the authority of the Lord Chamberlain; the clerk
of the kitchen, the cooks, and the porters were under that of the Lord
Steward; but the footmen, the livery-porters, and the under-butlers
took their orders from yet another official--the Master of the Horse.
Naturally, in these circumstances the service was extremely defective
and the lack of discipline among the servants disgraceful. They absented
themselves for as long as they pleased and whenever the fancy took
them; "and if," as the Baron put it, "smoking, drinking, and other
irregularities occur in the dormitories, where footmen, etc., sleep
ten and twelve in each room, no one can help it." As for Her Majesty's
guests, there was nobody to show them to their rooms, and they were
often left, having utterly lost their way in the complicated passages,
to wander helpless by the hour. The strange divisions of authority
extended not only to persons but to things. The Queen observed that