In order to administer the Fund a General Committee was established which included the Prime Minister, various high officers of state and armed services, the High Commissioners for the Dominions as well as notable industrialists and bankers. The bulk of the work was however done by a smaller Executive Committee, established to give effect to the Princess's wishes. Chaired by the Duke of Devonshire, with Rowland Berkeley as Honorary Secretary and Lord Revelstoke as Treasurer, none of its members could have foreseen at the outset that their charitable work would occupy them on and off for the best part of the next six years.
The Executive Committee wrestled with not only decisions on what form the gift would take (an embossed brass box and contents) and criteria for eligibility but also the problems of producing sufficient quantities to provide individual presents for a substantial, but to begin with, undefined number of potential recipients.
Eligibility for the Christmas gifts; numbers and costings
The Executive Committee's first priority was to decide who would qualify for the gift, taking into account Princess Mary's express wish that 'every sailor afloat and every soldier at the front' should have the present. The criteria eventually agreed upon were that all sailors serving under the command of Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, and all soldiers under the command of Field Marshal Sir John French should receive the gift.
The Admiralty's representative on the Committee, Captain Cecil Foley Lambert RN, estimated that about 145,000 men (including Royal Marines) would qualify. General Sir Sidney Seldon Long CB (representing the Quartermaster General) calculated that, including all officers and men and the Indian Contingent, the figure for the Army was in the region of 350,000. The Committee calculated that between £55,000 - £60,000 would be needed to cover the cost of the total number of nearly 500,000 presents. As time was short, the Committee, confident in the generosity of the British public, acted swiftly and placed an order for the embossed brass boxes.