OBITUARY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 52, Issue 81, 15 January 1932, Page 5

OBITUARY.

QUEEN SOPHIE OF GREECE. (United Press Association —Copyright) LONDON, January 14. Queen Sophie of Greece died at Frankfurt following an operation for cancel. Her brother, the ex-Kaiser, was torbidden to visit and! see her. Princess Sophie of Prussia, daughter of the then Crown Prince of Prussia, later Kaiser Friedrich 111., and Pnncess Victoria, was born tmi Juno it, 1870. Her brothers were the ex-Kaiser Wilhelm II: and the late Prince Henry of Prussia, while her sisters were Princess Victoria of Schaumburg-Lippo and Princess Margaret of Hesse. In October, 1889, Princess Sophie married at Athens the then Crown Prince Constantine of Greece. Against the will of her brother the Kaiser, who went so far as to forbid her admission to Prussia, she joined' the Greek Orthodox Church in 1891. After the assassination of King George 1., she ascended the- Greek throne with her husband in 1913. His reign was a troublous one, and in 1917, owing to the pressure of the Entente, he had to leave Greece and hand over tlio throne to his aldest son Alexander. Constantine went to live in Switzerland till, after Alexander’s death in December, 1920, lie was recalled to Greece by a vote of the people and again ascended the throne. He lost it for a second time, however, after the ill-fatod Asia Minor campaign against the Turks and left Greece at the end of September, 1922. On December 1, 1923, he died at Palermo, Sicily. His widow, ex-Qucen Sophie, has been living at Oilla, near Florence, in complete seclusion. In 1925 the remains of dior husband were taken to Florence. Her second son, who followed his father, as King George 11., was forced to abdicate the Greek throne in March, 1924. Her eldest daughter, Princess Helen, married Prince Carol, now King of Rumania. They have, however, beep! divorced and a reconciliation appears to be impossible. The late Queen -Sophie had three other children, Prince Paul and the Princesses Irene and Catherine.

SIR SYDNEY LOW.

LONDON, January 13. The death has occurred of Sir Sidney Low, author and journalist.

Sir Sidney Low, who was knighted .in 1918, was born at Blackheath in 1857. He was educated at King’s College School and Balliol College, Oxford, and subsequently admitted as barrister, Inner Temple. ' Formerly lecturer on constitutional history at King’s College, London University, he became editor of “St. James’s Gazette” (18881897), and literary editor of the “Standard” (1904). ‘ He was a, special correspondent during the Royal visit, to India in 1905-1906, and attended The Hague Conference ini 1907. During the European War he was first a. correspondent in France and then with the Italian Army. In 1908 he was editor of the wireless service at the Ministry of Information. His publications, include: “Dictionary of English History,” “The Governance of England,” “Vision of India,” ''“Political History of the Reign of Queen Victoria,” “De Quincey,” “The British Constitution,” “The Call of the East,” and “Indian States and PrinceSj”

MR A. P. COLLINS

LONDON, January 14

Mr Arthur Pelham Collins (managing director of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, Limited), is dead, aged 68. Mr Collins produced many dramas and pantomimes at Drury Lane, and also- at the National Theatre. On several occasions he produced operas by the command of Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle.

MR R. W .WILLIAMSON. LONDON, January 14. Mr Robert Wood Williamson, M.Sc., member of the Council of the Royal Anthropological Society, is dead) aged In 1910- Mr Williamson travelled in the Solomon Islands and engaged in an expedition of anthropological exploretion into tlio interior ol British New Guinea. His publications ' include: “The Wavs of tlie South Sea Savage ; and “The Social and Political Systems of Central. Polynesia.”