POPULAR CHOICE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 253, 26 October 1938, Page 11

POPULAR CHOICE.

CHARM OF MANNER Attributes that Should Appeal To Australia. DUKE OP KENT'S CAREER. Possessed of a ready smile, a charm of manner and a thorough dislike of -side," His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent, Governor-General Designate of the Commonwealth, has those attributes which will appeal to the people of Australia. He is a vital personality, he is a good companion and has that tremendous advantage of l*ing at once J oung and a Prince. He was born on December 2ft. 1002. so that when he assumes office he will he only 37 years old. Added to his own personal charm, he is happily married to the charming Marina, Princess of Greece, and they have two children, both just as charming, Prince Edward, born on October 9, 1035, and Princess Alexandra, born on Christmas Day the next year.

Prince George is a typically modern young man, a fact which is shown in his tastes and in his outlook. He is fond of socictv and particularly fond of dancing. He used often to be seen at London night clubs with a few select friends. As a matter of fact, he once won a prize for dancing at Cannes, but his identity was kept a secret. He is also fond of the cinema, and it is related that once, when in the Navy and his ship was anchored off the Californian coast, he visited Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford. Here is a story to show his dislike of side. "My brother and I," he said, relating an incident which took place on their travels, "once went to the cinema." They both hoped that they had escaped notice, but when they were about to leave they found an enormous crowd waiting. They both tried to find a back way, and with the help of the manager that was done. Just as they were slipping out, the manager apologised. "They are waiting for Garbo to come out," he said. Police Ball Incident. The Prince was at the Police Ball on another occasion, and a harassed constable, trying to clear a way for him, unknowingly shouldered him to one side. "Clear the way for Royalty, please," ordered the policeman. "0.K.," replied the complaisant Prince, and proceeded to clear a way for himself. All these facts serve to show why he is popular with the younger generation. His tastes are their tastes, his outlook their outlook. He has a flair for things mechanical. He likes tinkering round with engines and wireless sets, and he has been known to drive a high-powered car round Brooklands. Well Balanced, Well Informed. Tt has been said he is fond of amusement, and of the younger set, but at the same time he is singularly well balanced and ?vell informed on social problems of the day. In that regard ho is like his brother, the King. Like His Majesty again, he entered the Royal Xavy as a cadet from Osborne in 1916, and passed out of Dartmouth as a midshipman in January, 1921. He was most popular there, being called either "George" or "P.G." He had another attribute which made for popularity. He had a genius for smuggling friends in for midnight parties. He served on the H.M.S. Iron Duka and H.M.S. Elizabeth, became a sublieutenant in 1924 and a lieutenant in 1026. He was with the Mediterranean Fleet and also in the China station. "Whfle there he helped to put out a big fire in Hongkong. His health, however, had never been good, and it was announced in March, 1929, that he would bo retiring from the Navy. He then entered tho Foreign Office, the first member of the Royal Family to become a civil servant. 111-health again interfered with his work, and he had to abandon it for a time. His interest in the domestic affairs of the nation led him to enter the Home Office, and there he became an inspector of factories. Perhaps the fact which brought him romantically before the world was hi* marriage with the stately Marina. Princess Marina is the youngest of the three daughters of Prince Nicholas of Greece. Prince George met her first in 1929, and then in 1934 he went to Yugoslavia to spend a holiday with Prince Paul of Yugoslavia, husband of Marina's eldest sister. Within five days of hU arrival at the pictnrcsque summer residence on Bohinisko Lake ho had asked her to be, his wire, and she had consented. It came as a surprise not only to the general public, but to his own equerry anrl to most members of tha Family. They married the sam® year in November. The Duke's Travels. Since then they have been out of England several times, to Yugoslavia, to Bavaria and to the West Indies. If any proof were needed that the Prince has not lost interest in wider affairs since his marriage, that would be supplied by the fact that, when in July, 1935, he learned that the public desirei to make him a wedding present li« suggested that it should take the form of a donation to the St. George's Hospital. The sum of £33,482 raised. Though he has not travelled as extensively as his brothers, he is by no means completely untravelled. He has been to South Africa and to South America, and hut for the strenuousness of the latter in" r ",°" W } ;. avo come to New Zealand in 1934 in the place of the Duke of Gloucester He accompanied his eldest brother, the Duke of Windsor, to South America ,n 1031, when the latter was Prince of A'ales. while three vears lat er he mado a most succe-sfnl I South Africa. So successful was it that th, „ k( . d that hc S" b « the Uniot -NOW he becomes Oovernor-Oeneral of another -reat British possession J?! bas all the attributes which cl, i! make for distinguished „ t n v new field of activitv. fcucces<? m his