6 JULY 1951, Page 7

A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK

THE leading article on the King's health in The Times last Saturday was opportune, for, as invariably happens in such cases, alarmist rumours with no sort of foundation gain all too easy currency. As The Times said—the same information has reached me quite independently—what the King has been suffering from is exactly what the doctors said he was suffering from, a touch of pneumonia following influenza. The long con- valescence prescribed by the doctors is common enough in such cases, particularly in the case of a patient whose normal duties lay so heavy a strain on him as the Sovereign. But there is no question of a return of the leg malady, and no reason to doubt that within a few weeks the King will be resuming his normal vigorous life.