"When Lord Milner was given the Order of the Garter... [h]e had to attend a Levee, and when he dressed he was faced by the problem over which shoulder should the riband go. As there was no time to ask anyone's advice he decided to wear it...over the right shoulder; but the Garter...[is] worn over the left shoulder. Quite unconscious that he was wearing his riband over the wrong shoulder he appeared in the antechamber at St. James's Palace, where everyone assembles. There, unfortunately, he met George Curzon, who was scandalised at his ignorance; so strongly, in fact, did Curzon feel that after the Levee he wrote Milner a letter saying that it was almost inconceivable that anyone who had been given this ancient Order, the highest Order in the land, should not even take the trouble to ascertain how it was worn. It happened some months later that one of the Levees at St. James's Palace happened to come on a collar day... Curzon...came rather late to the Levee...and...committ[ed] the most heinous offence of wearing a riband as well as a collar. Of course, the King observed this at once but made little of it, only chaffing Curzon about the mistake; Milner, who was also present, heard these remarks and afterwards wrote to Curzon, repeating nearly word for word that it was almost inconceivable that anyone who had been given this ancient Order, etc. etc."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Defence ministers of England, Great Britain, and the United KingdomColonial governorsAmbassadors of Great Britain and the United KingdomPoliticians from the United KingdomSecretaries of State for the Colonies (United Kingdom)
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Frederick Ponsonby, Recollections of Three Reigns (1951), pp. 352-353
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alfred_Milner%2C_1st_Viscount_Milner
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner
Alfred Milner KG GCB GCMG PC (23 March 1854 – 13 May 1925) was a British statesman and colonial administrator.
33 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner →
Related Quotes
"Lloyd George had the firm support of Milner, the strongest man in his War Cabinet."
""Churchill was 'very keen, able, and broad-minded' and a 'powerful backer', but warned that his weakness was being 't…"
"British influence... is not exercised to impose an uncongenial foreign system upon a reluctant people. It is a force …"
"[I]f Egyptian prosperity is a British interest, so is Egyptian independence. We have no desire to possess ourselves o…"
"I have a strong hope and conviction that, with moderation and good sense, and a policy of firmness, patience and good…"
"There is only one possible settlement – war! It has got to come ... The difficulty is in the occasion and not the job…"
"If, ten years hence, there are three men of British race to two of Dutch, the country [i.e. South Africa] will be saf…"
"...the impracticability of governing natives, who, at best, are children, needing and appreciating just paternal gove…"
"If we believe a thing to be bad, and if we have a right to prevent it, it is our duty to try to prevent it and to dam…"
"Milner....is the strongest member of the War Cabinet as well as being the best informed."