TEMPORARY MONARCHS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3146, 4 December 1922, Page 7

TEMPORARY MONARCHS.

(By W. E. dc B. Whittaker.) The changing of monarchs is becoming a recognised national amusement in the Near East. It is inexpensive, it is relatively exciting, and it lias no serious effect on the habitual disorganisation of the' Balkans. Thus nobody is displeased l save the King m exile. The first of last week’s depositions was that of King Constantine. His son George, Duke of Sparta, the new monarch,, is believed never to have desired the throne. Perilous furniture lias no charms for him. Born in 1.890, lie was for a time attached to the Prussian Garde du Corps. After a. short period of service in the Greek navy he returned to the army that he might take part in the Balkan wars of 191213.

He accompanied bis father into exile in 1917 without regret. His sympathies were not with Germany, but he declared himself loyal to the King, and was in consequence passed over in favor of liis younger brother Alexander. , , In U)l-1 international gossips understood that he might wed 1 Princess Elizabeth of Boumama. The war destroyed the dream for a space, and it was not until his father's restoration in P'2l) that ho became betrothed and finally married to her. The second roval removal in the air is that of the Sultan Mohammed VI. of Tnrkev, who has been succeeded by Prince Abdul Medjid. In Turkey the oldest living member of the imperial family succeeds to the throne, and not the oldest son, as in other contries. I fence the new Sultan is a cousin ol his predecessor. , . . His father, the Sultan Abdul Aziz, succumbed to the family vice of deposition in 1876, and bis sou, then eight years of age, began a thirty-five years life of seclusion in accordance with Turkish practice. Each successive Sultan regards his heirs with deep and unfriendly suspicion, and takes adequate measures to prevent their interference in affairs of State. Until post-war years In’s life passed without incident, and it was not until 1920 that his actions attracted any attention in the outer world. In that voar he resigned formally his rank as heir to the throne as a, protest against the peace terms imposed on Turkey by the Allies. As this self-sacrifice failed to achieve the desired effect, be attempted to commit suicide in October 1920. once more without causing sorrow to the Allies'. He is strongly Anglophile, yet he is in close sympathy with Mustapha Komal Pasha and the National aspirations, lienee his accession to the throne, however brief the fates may make it. should help towards the settlement of existing difficulties. He has shown a desire to make his influence felt in national affairs, and is oddly outspoken for a. scion of the house of Osman.