KING OF THE BULGARS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 30, 4 February 1916, Page 8

KING OF THE BULGARS.

"A ROYAL ADVENTURER." HIS VICES OUTLINED. The King o f the Bulgars, as I know him, is more of an adventurer than a sphinx, and loves money more tliau honour and friendship (writes Henry W. Fischer in -The Daily Express"). Loyalty and gentlemanly traits and sentiments in general he looks upon as convenient stepping-stones to ambition. StambulofV, the "Bulgarian Bismarck," who pave him the princely crown in 1887. he caused to be butchered in his carriage Jess than eight years later, but a former courtier of his who accused liim of abominable vices he pensioned oil', allowing him his salary for life. It may he that the covetoissness and unsteadiness of purpose notable in Ferdinand's diplomacy are inheritances from an ancestor whose very name lias been carefully erased from "the "Almanach de Gotha" since the present King doffed Iris Austrian hussar jacket. The "Statesman's Year Hook" and similar publications style Ferdinand "Prince of Saxe-Cobiirg and (.'othu." but, as a, matter of fact, he is a Coburg-Kohary, on his grandparent's side. BUYIXU A PRIME. Kohary or Cohen was a notorious Austrian army contractor in the wars of Napoleon, but because he'was careful to pay a percentage of his stealings to the Prime Minister, Mctternich, the latter conferred on him the princely dignity. Aβ at that period there exUW somewhere a Prince Ferdinand of SnxeC'oburg—very noble, of course, but also very poor—kohary allowed bimself the luxury of buying this princclet for his daughter Tony, and in due course Tony became Princess of Saxe-Coburg-Kohary. As Metternich put it, Tony would have been jjood enough for a Coburgcr even if Kohary had stolen a few millions U'&s than lie did get away with. Doubtless Ferdinanil's grandfather enjoyed the iirniy contractor's money which made him one of the richest among the small fry princes in the Central Umpires; the only drawback was that "Kohary" had to be addeil to his other titles. Kohary, as a matter of fact, was generally accepted in Germany as the name of some far-away duchy or other; but royalty itself could not he deceived, and the Kohary appellation which he was made to bear rendered Ferdinand's grandfather odious in the eyes of his compeers. Tony became a Catholic before her marriage, and died some r>o years ago. As both her father anil husband had gone before her. there was no one to inset on the retention of the Kohary encumbrance, and Prince Augustus, FeriNmand's father, dropped it immediately after the death of his mother. After this he wee created a highness by the Austrian (.iovermuent, and Louis Philippe of France, whose commercial instincts were extraordinarily well developed, gave him his daughter Clementine for wife. GREED AND MEANNK-*. Clementine was a very wine and ambitions woman, and her counsel and family connections proved n great help to Ferdinand in the shaping of his career. But, at the same time, the more disreputable charactcrief.ee of tlic unscrupulous army contractor prevailed in the young prince; grccl. hankering for bargains, undorhandednevw, and mean tactic-. Above all, it mu.-t he remembered that Ferdinand is German on bis paternal ancestors' side —Herman with an admixture of Hungarian, Semitic, and Orleans blood.

The miles on miles of farm lands he owns in Austria-Hungary are hit, Kohary inheritance, and it is. of course, ridiculous to cay that he feared their confiscation in case he did not side with the iVntrnl Kmpires. for he owns them not as King Ferdinand, but ac a private individual.

Ferdinand merely α-eayed to get something for nothing, v pastime he has followed all his life, and his inclinations being wholly German, the Kaiser is a demigod i» ''is eyes, though Wilhelm has treated him badly whenever they have met.

The lirst time I saw the Rawer and Ferdinand together wae at the opening of the Berlin in IS9.V He drove up with the Empress when the Kaiser was about to leave, and the latter deliberately turned his back on his guest, jumped into his coach, nnd was whieked off in obedience to an impatient gesture. The Empress, a f.mid woman, looked perplexed and crestfallen, but Ferdinand elected not to notice the insult, smiled broadly, and remarked that his Majesty seemed to be in a hurry. "Business of State, I suppose," he added. BOYCOTTED. Aβ to Ferdinand's greediness and sybarite habits, they were brilliantly displayed in Kuseia when he was a guest at the" Czar's coronation. At that period Russian railways did not boast diningcars, passengers taking their meals at stated intervals at successive stations, nn hour being allowed for dinner, half an hour for breakfast, lunch, or tea. 1 happened to travel in the train that followed the Bulgarski special—and the Bulgaraki regularly took two hours, or a whole hour, respectively, to eat and drink. thereby absorbing the time allotted to the people coming after him. Our train , usually drew up at the station a minute after his had left, but there was always the same report: "Only time for a sandwich, ladies and gentlemen; his Highness has stolen your 'time." After living on bread, butter and cold meat for two days to please the Bulgarski, I rather rejoiced when I observed the scant courtesy meted out to Prince Ferdinand in Moscow. None of the other royalties present at the coronation seemed to care a rap whether Ferdinand was alive or not; in fact, he was left severely alone even by the small fry princes. This general boycott — declared, it seemed, by common accord —against the Bulgarski was especially apparent lit -the great Court ball when the Russian Emperor and his guests iiled through the lines of Invited visitors many timw, on each occasion conducting another royal lady. It was "change? les dames" for all but Ferdinand. This Moscow incidfnt, taken in conjunction with the. lierlin affront, only emphasised the fact that Ferdinand was looked on as a pariah among his kind, and in Vienna and Budapest I found the prejudice against Ferdinand as strong as in Berlin and Moscow.