"BONNIE PRINCE RUPPRECHT."

Dunstan Times, Issue 3138, 9 October 1922, Page 8

"BONNIE PRINCE RUPPRECHT."

(By Arthur David). Rupprecht of Bavaria, cx-Crown Prince of the kingdom famous for beer and music, is the latest hope of the. derma u Monarchists. The Hohenzollerns are out of court, and the head of the house of Wittelshach is the bonnic prince of the Teuton Royalists. Ft is no new role for Rupprecht; he has hot'n an aspirant for many years lo a, throne—to no less a throne, indeed, than that of Great Britain. He is a direct descendant of Charles 1., who lost, his head on a cold morning in 1649, and bases his claim to the* British Crown on the ground that our reigning royal house is descended from the sister of the unfortunate King Charles—Elizabeth, who became the consort of the Elector Palatine of the Rhine. In the days before the war Jacobite societies in England hailed him as Prince of Wales. When Rupprecht visited England in 1887 on the occasion of Queen Victoria’s Jubilee he was greeted by> enthusiasts of the White Rose League, and an awkward position was created, as King Edward, at that time Prince of Wales, was at the station to meet the Bavarian visitor. King Edward, with ready tact, as- . sured Iris visitor that the cheers were meant for both of them! Possibly it was his baulked ambition to reign over England that actuated his intense bitterness against the British in the late war. His orders of the day to the Sixtlij Army, which he commanded, were marked with savage ferocity. “Our most hated enemy the English;’’ “Troops of that cunning, bloodthirsty British enemy;” “We will take no British prisoners;” “These cursed islanders must be driven into the sea!” These are some of the- choice which figured in his addresses to the troops. Prince Rupprecht commanded the German forces around Antwerp in 1914. There was bitter irony in this fact, as Rupprecht was a brother-in-law of the Queen of the Belgians', his first wife having been her sister. She. however, died in 1912 after years of matrimonial unhappiness, which culminated in a public scandal. In 1921 he again married, his bride being Princess Antoinette, a; sister ol the Gram! Duchess of Luxemburg. His consort is thirty years his junior, and the marriage aroused the greatest resentment in Luxemburg, a tiny country whose frontiers were violated by the Germans in 1914. “Bonnie Prince Rupprecht” is not a fascinating figure. His name was on the Allies’ list of war criminals charged with brutality, theft, and pillage, and with having been the first commander to use poison gas. .He is, it would seem, particular in his personal tastes. When he was at Mou.s. occupying a beautiful chateau, he found fault with the bedroom furniture. He gave orders that a I/ouis XVI suite was to be procured for him, and fatigue parties were sent to scour the country till suitable furniture was found. In appearance Rupprecht is a typical German cavalry officer. He is l fiftythree yearn of age, tall, slight, with iron grey hair and a heavy moustache.. The day is fast approaching when the stability of the German Republic will be put to a searching tost. When that day of crisis arrives, not the least important factor will lie the attitudto adopted by Rupprecht of Bavaria, once t he pet of the Jacobite Legitimists, and now the white hope of the Junkers and M anarchists' of Germany.