H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXI, Issue 259, 1 November 1890, Page 4 (Supplement)

H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES.

(By a Fkiendly Critic,

He is the beat-known and mosb popular Prince in Europe. As a social leader he is without a rival, in this or any other European State. It is no longer permitted to English princes to be actively concerned wifch politics; ib is no longer the fashion for them to trifle with literature or the fine arts. Princes of Wales, in particular, are practically compelled to restrict their intellectual onergies'.or, at least, the public exhibition of them) within a very straightened sphere ; and in these circumstances, it ia creditable to hia Highness that he is facile princeps in that domain in which alone he has opportunity to shine.

No man living could do as well as he does the things which a Prince of Wales is expecbed to do in public. There aro many day 3in most months of the year when ib ia tiresome and tedious in the extreme to be ' tho first gentleman in the Kingdom,' but those are precisely the days on which the Prince of Wales shows how thoroughly he knows his parb, and how perfectly he is able to play ib. During fourteen years I havo observed him on public nnd ceremonial occasions of every imaginable description. I havo 6een him preside at charity feasts, lay foundation stones, distribute prizes, open hospitals, receive addresses, congratulate wedded couples, walk in funeral processions, and drive in state to the racecourse. This facfc has chiefly impressed me that the Prince discovers h„3 beat and _ mosb amiable qualities when fche occasion ia most; tedious or mosb exacting. There i 3 no more accomplished chairman of a public dinner. The Prince is nob an orator, and in years gone by he was one of the least satisfactory public speakers in the country. But, save on the rarest occasions, he has never attempted to go beyond his rhetorical limits ; and at this day there aro few men who can more fluently deliver themselves of apter or more graceful sentiments. Ho is perfect; in the art; (nob common bo princes) of self-effacement, and in the practice of this he is the most perfect of listeners, and it is a lesson in manners to observe him bend forward from timo to time with his eyes on the speaker, and quietly applaud him. Everywhere in public, he is a model of courteous. and distinguished bearing. No man carries himself better ; whether atCourfc, in a Drawing Room, or on the racecourse. He is not unwilling to receive praise, and he is singularly happy in his method of bestowing it. His complimentsnrenobed for their neatness and—what- is still better—for their appropriateness ; and nothing pleases him better than to pay one to some young and rising genius who is presented to him, or whom he may chance to meet.

He is sbricb on points of etiquette, but dislikes the affectation of parade; the overwrought adulabions of aldermen and charity-moncera, when he visits fche city or dines ab Willis' P.ooms, are only more diataatoful fco him than fulsome extravagance in the matter of red cloth and bunting.

He has the gifb of memory, with which Royalty is universally credited and does sometimes possess, and he surpriaed an ex-Sheriff of Middlesex on one occasion by an inquiry respecting the health of his children, ' They had the measles, you remember, when I mot you last,' added the Prince. Public propriety is a kind of cult wifch him, and his steadfast and almoßb reverential obedience to it attests his nice appreciation of his position as the loader of English society. His Highness is noted for tho punctuality wifch which he fulfils his public engagementa ; and; though he sometimea diaappoints a hostess, he is unfailing in his attendance at Sunday morning Church. In Church, as elsewhere, he remembers hia position and hia duty ; and his attitude during tho sermon is an example to slovenly worshippers. Ho is never caught napping, and he carries the points of tho discourse home to luncheon. Wherever he may be, and whatever he may be doing, he .displays the same keen and clever interesb. He ia the beet auditor in the theatre, the liveliest and moßb incessant talker at dinner, and he follows the stages of a race in which he has a fivepound interest as if his succession to the throne depended en its issue. This healthy and inexhaustible zest of life, conjoined with his never-failing appreciation of his own position (and its recjuirements), in the English social economy, is one secret, and perhaps tho prime one, of the perennial favour he enjoys. Lacking and never claiming to possess, high intellect, he is none bhe less one of the cleverest men of his day. He reigns without a sovereign title, and ho is ab once the foremost and the least obtrusive man in the country which will one day recognise him as the most exemplary of constitutional monarchs.