EUROPE'S NEWEST KING.

Clutha Leader, Volume XL, Issue 70, 10 March 1914, Page 2

EUROPE'S NEWEST KING.

When Prince William of Wied (to , whom reference was mado in reeeut cables) used to appear at the Court of liis aunt, Queen Carmen Sylvia, in Bucharest, panoplied in tho gleaming while of tho Potsdam Garde uu Corps ho was called "Lohengrin" (writes the Berlin correspondent of 'i'hw Daily Mail). A peculiarly martial figure, broadchested and over six feet m his stockings, whose favorite trick as u young lieutenant was to hoist a comrade high in tho air with one arm, the future nflcr of Albania is a Lohengrin in more than externals. His burning desire to face tho ominous uncertainties of the new kingdom shows him to be endowed with the indomitable courage of Wagner's silvered knight. He is ready to beard a world of dangers unseen. And his wife is a wow in all of his own fibre. A Princess born on tho wild prairies of Moldavia is tho last person in the world to listen to the Kaiser's admonitions to beware of tho pitfalls of Albania. Prince and Princess William of Wied may fail in statecraft at Durazzo. lint, they will never be found lacking in pluck. They are going into tho "Albanian adventure," as their friends and kinsmen call it, with their eyes wide open and their hearts steeled. Tho warlike tribesmen who are to be their subjects are said to idolise bravery. If that is so, Prineo William and "his spirited consort havo an ideal claim to lovalty and affection.

In a material age it i.s hard for a Prince who volunteers for a throne to convince his fellow men of tho sincerity of his motives when lie pleads sense of duty as his guiding purpose. That is what Prineo William adduces in so far as to consider himself "the agent of civilisation." Nobody who knows the rugged candour of his character, or his predilection for silence inherited from a great, ancestor, William of Orange, doubts the genuineness of his protestations. Comrades and relatives have been trying for necks todissuadoPrineo and Princess William from their "mad" project. Into their ears have lieen dinned tho attractions of irresponsible dole a far niento in placid Potsdam, the German Windsor. The I'rinee has been adjured to take heed of his very promising career in the Kaiser's, Army. Princess Sophia is remined of the commanding position she abandons in German Court, military, and artistic society. Before tho eyes of both has been dangled a disheartening and terrifying vision of tho primitiveness and perils of Albania. They have been besought to p-onder well before rejecting tho tranquillity of their present life for a country wliero revenge for murder by murder is canonised law. To all these alarms and entreaties this ultramodern Lohengrin and Elsa return a resolute "No." Durazzo to them spells Duty. They aro going.

T'ho Prince and Princess William, of course, are German, but by association and environment both arc almost as Rumanian as Teutonic. They wero prepared for tho Albanian throne by tho Prince's undo and aunt, King Carol and Queen Carmen Sylva —tho latter was a Princess of AVied —who in recent years havo been (something of father and mother to the Prince. As for his consort, a born Princess of SchonburgWaldenburg, she spent l«i entire youth and character-forming period in the valleys of lhimsinia. on the estates of her maternal ancestors, the Chantacuzenes, tho renowned family which once ruled tho By/.antian Empire.

Ask hits friends what Prince William's I outstanding traits are and they will tell you at onco a passion for soldiering and an omnivorous love of l>ooks. A brilliant undergraduate) at Jena, where he ,studied philosophy at tho feet of Haeckel, Jio stood out from among his comrades because he preferred reading to drinking and tho Mensur (duel). Hits giant physique inclined him naturally to gymnastics and athletics, and when not absorbed in books he was occupied in something capable of developing muscle, The Prince became famous as tho strongest man in the University, and his achievements are still a tradition at Jena. Tho same to get ahead which had ehiu'scterised him as a student marked his jnilitary career, oil which ho entered as a lieutenant in the elite regiment of tho (Jerma.n Army, tho Lifeguards of Potsdam, that superb black-horsed troop of silver-breasted and eaglehelmetcd giants in whose uniform the Kaise.r most looks tho part of Supreme War Lord. It was not long before Lieutenant Prince William received the coveted call to tho War Academy at Jiorlin, tho distinction which only talcntodod subalterns achieve, for it is the training ground for tho General Staff, t-lio blue .ribbon of tho Army. Prince William's industry, talent, and zeal mado Jihn a certainty for Staff honors. When people would suggest that a Prince of Wied was sure of advancement beoause of exalted connections, which are of potency even in the German Army, his comrades at tho Academy replied, that Princo William would attain; the Staff even if he were named Muller, Schulze, or Meyer. After another year with his regiment he -received his merited Staff captaincy. In that post, too, ho shone, even among a wealth of talent, and ho leaves the department where Moltke implanted the art of "organising victory" with the rank of major. Undoubtedly greater honors still were in store for him if he had preferred soldiering to ruling.

"The Wieds," as Prince and Princess William are known to their friends, havo the energy and enthusiasm of youth. Tho Prince will bo 38 in June, his wife 29 in May. They havo two children, a girl of fiyo and a baby "Crown Prince." Prince William is moro "royal" than any non-reigning Herman Prince. Ho is connected by direct blood ties with tho ruling houses of Germany, Russia, tho Netherlands, and all three Scandinavian kingdoms. The Prince is quiet and distinctly thoughtful of mien. In conversation he reveals power of intellect and will. His words are few and always to tho point. Ho is obviously a man of action. His stature, suggesting leonine strength, and a face denoting determination and coollieadednewt aro suro to impress. Tho Princess Sophia is as little as possible like the haughty royal lady of imagination. At onco you know her to ho a woman of restless aspiration. riot easily dissuaded from a resolve firmly taken. The democratic, untramir.ellwl atmosphere of her girlhood explains her vivacity and unaffected bearing. Sho had tho unconventional education of a simple peasant child in the Moldavian hills, under the supervision of a mother who was poetess, musician, and painter. It left an indelibly romantic impress on her life and character. She was brought jjp not to be afraid of the people. Her earliest danoiajr •ffyrtfl.ere rere foresters official) op«' M 9 ismtnl .r,.,;:' ~U: . I

Of liberal ond tolerant stoclH them brave as lions, "th H well equipped to mount the *9 tempestuous Albania. Tho questionably looked far and tufl out finding their like.