THE GERMAN CROWN PRINCE.

Bruce Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 1933, 17 February 1888, Page 4

THE GERMAN CROWN PRINCE.

• A godson of the German Crown Prince writes as follows to the ' New York Tribune ' :— It is no exaggeration to state that the Crown Prince is the beau ideal of all that is finest, coblest, and best of the great German race. " A tall, hand, some, and noble looking man, with an

elegant figure, light brown hair, and a straw-coloured beard, with a most chivalrous and yeb somewhat grave courtesy— a Teuton, in fact, such as Tacitus' describes," is the portrait which Era press Eugenic draws of him in writing to her friend the Countess Walewski. His name, his appearance and his character are famous throughout the world. They are as well known in Japan and China a3 in America or Europe. No breath of scandal has ever tarnished his fair fame, either as an officer, gentleman, or in his domestic relations, and probably the highest testimony in his favour is the fact that the French, with all their intense vindictiveness against the Germans, have never either uttered or published a single offensive remark about him, and that, although he was one of the principal leaders of the invading army in 1870, his death will be nowhere more sincerely regretted than in France. A singularly devoted husband, his undisguised admiration for his clever and talented wife has given rise to the rumour that he is entirely subservient to her will. Those who make this assertion know the Prince but little. That it is entirely false everyone who has had the opportunity of becoming acquainted with the strongly defined features of his sterling and upright character will readily admit. Few parents have ever devoted themselves more completely to their children, and with the solitary exception of Prince William, whose conduct toward his father and mother has been far from exemplary, the tenderest relations exist between the Crown Prince and Princess and their children. Never was depth and intensity of feeling more strikingly displayed than at the funeral of Prince Waldemar, an exceedingly bright and lovable twelve-year°old boy, and the favourite child of " Unzer Fritz " and hi 3 wife. Few of those who were present on the 29th of March, 1879, in the Friedeaskirche, at Potsdam, will forget the scene. When the service had ended and the choir was singing the beautiful hymn, " Wenu ich einmal sole scheiden, no schieden, nicht von mir," the Crown Prince strode up to the coffin and threw himself at the feet of his much Joyed child. Quietly and gently the Empress and her daughter, the Grand Duchess of Baden, stole up and knelt down beside him. After aboufc ten minutes he arose, pressed a long kiss 01, the velvetcoloured lid of the coffin, and having assisted his mother to rise to her feet, led her out of the church, the tears meanwhile streaming down his face. It is a moving thing to see a man weep, especially when the mourner is so glorious a specimen of manhood as the Crown Prince, and there were few dry eyes in the church.