CZAR'S TERRIBLE COUSIN.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 183, 2 August 1913, Page 17

CZAR'S TERRIBLE COUSIN.

ISCAPADES OP GRAND DCKE BOEIS

A MAD-HEADED GRAND DUKE.

?_,__ Nicholas" cousin, Grand Duke Boris nadimlrovitch, has contributed the latest iddiUons to the Eomanoir scandals. Always rather wild, he has been "going it" faster than ever, in spite of being thirty- ' _ T _n years old. Tiie Czar wants him to -jury and setUe down, but Boris will not .ear-of "- The P lans " r his mother - Grand D-chess yiadimir, for marrying him off are ___t_-_ally upset by his lapses into adjaiiced bohemianisru. Not long ago he astonished even the local lonarinm? where gilded youth «lo strange ____gs. He sat in a box with friends drinking champagne thirstily till he had to lean gatinst the fair shoulders of his companion, i Moscow sugar king entered and remarked i_j_jiy that his pockets were stuffed with _____-notes. Boris sprang up, asked to see _____ took a handful, leaned over the box , began throwing them below, crying •Tate it, yon scum of tbe earth, enjoy Komanoff bounty. The people below scrambled for the money, and Boris insisted ou the sugar Hag handing it out till bis pockets were _ mp ty. Boris gave it all to tbe crowd, which grew so excited that tbe police came j_ to see what was tbe matter, but withdrew on learning that the Grand Duke was mixed np ia "• Ihe sngar king did not seem too pleased, f__ffsoo,ooo roubles (£50,000) had disap- _______ but dared say nothing, as he wants :to get into the Grand Duke's set. I__ scandal reached its height when ' Boris' companion, seeing that the sugar ; ___gn_te was richer than the Romanoff. ' *_n. ctt with him. leaving Boris .without a ' fhoolder to lean on. He snouted and wept jo 10-nd the police rang up his palace and ______ that somebody should go and take Mm fcOD-e, as crowds had gathered in the -arden tnd even the streets around the ' ■___arlui*. * Naturally tbe Czar was furious, but Boris pleaded that ne was so intoxicated that he had no idea of what happened. _. few days later he got into another 'goape. Noticing at luncheon in one of the IfEiart restaurants a girl who took his fancy. l,e gathered some friends and drove to her __t j_s he thought. Tbey entered a luxurious' apartment overlooking the Neva, and lie Grand Duke, seeing a basin fnll of gold fish, took off his uniform tunic, turned np-his shirt sleeves and began playing with them. His friends settled themselves in Virions comfortable ways, hats on, and _ome with feet np on the brocaded sofas. After some time an elderly woman entered. fEtnllo," was the Grand Dnke"s greeting. "What are yon doing here? This is my lonsei" said the lady, stiffly. "Go on; none of your nonsense,"' laughed Boris, sport-OS- water in her face. "Go arid fetch your young woman and be quick about \_ -\Vc have no use for old women bere, my. dear." The lady nearly had a fit. for she is a member of one of the best families in Russia, far older than the Romanoffs, and old fashioned in her ideas. Then the truth dawned on her. - "You are mistaken, gentlemen." she said. "lon must go a floor higher up." The other men .were sober enough to be tOTered with confusion, and rushed out of the room, but Boris refused to go up ■jrithont .the gold fish. So tie Indignant old lady, who is a friend of the Czarina, left the flat to the Grand Bake, drove to the Czarina and expressed her opinion of the Czar's cousin in strong terms. Boris had to call and apologise in person. Be excused himself by saying: "If yon had the misfortune to be a Grand Date, madam, you too would be drunk from, morning until morning." There was a time when the Czar wanted to make him Viceroy of Poland, but Boris begged to be excused. He is most affable •frhen sober, and always makes a point of talking to even the humblest member of -opseholds when he goes to stay in country parties. He formerly was a first rate shot, hit his aim is not what it used to be. His brother Cyril, who married Princess Victoria of Saxe-Cobnrg after she was dh-orced from the Grand Duke of Hesse, Is much more sedate. He rarely sees his -rather. Grand Duchess Cyril is known as one r of the plainest but most fascinating somen in Russian society. 'The youngest brother, Andrew, an officer la a Cossack regiment, walks in Boris' loot-teps.