KING OF SWEDEN. NEW MONARCH'S TASK.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 33, 8 February 1908, Page 9

KING OF SWEDEN. NEW MONARCH'S TASK.

DEMOCRAT AND SPORTSMAN. The ante-chamber of Guslaf V. would put to flight the notion that a king has nothing to do except wear a crown and receive the homage oi his people (writes the special correspondent of the London Daily Mail). Messengers come and go ; telegrams and letters arrive; Ministers and oilicers in uniform pass to and fro ; stewards and chamberlains hurry from j ono place to another ; and the telephone works hard. The small, low-ceihnged -room is as busy as a stockbroker's oflice. "We receive many strange communications," observed an aide-de-camp, turning over a pile of letters. The telephone shrieked a discordant appeal, and 1 was ushered into an inner chamber, where I found Mr. Bill, Swedish Minister in Rome. We had not met since tho first Peace Conference, and wero becoming reminiscent when a door opened and a chamberlain gave the signal that his turn had arrived. His Excellency had just •time to say how much he regretted London — and the Athenaeum — then the door closed upon hiin\ More messengers, more telegrams, more Ministers, more frantic appeals from the telephone. Could this be the audience chamber of the King? Had I not by chance strayed into some State department with a sudden rush of work? My friend tho aide-de-camp looked up from his growing, pile of letters and began to talk." We were getting deep into ths secession of Norway when the inner door opened once> more and a chamberlain bade mo enter. KING OSCAR'S LAST WISH. Tho King still occupies the apartments of the Crown Prince, and they ,are small onough to make one reflect how little, of a royal palace, as of a royal life, is at tho exclusive disposal of ,a monarch. His , Majesty received me with that easy and. charming courtesy which is a heritage of his French descent. The King speaks English, and, like his father, , has a strong affection for the British, frori whom he has received many proofs of sympathy. On his death-bed King Oscar wished that ho were strong enough to visit our coast, where, like the German Emperor, he might regain some of his old vigour. This hope, alas, was never realised, and the burden of the crown has been laid upon the son. That" he will bear it Hianfully. his people may be stire. King Gustaf is heir to great traditions and < great responsibilities. .He comes to the throne at»i crisis in tbe history of Scandanivia, for th9'. secession of Norway has awakened slumbering antagonisms and roused a now spirit in the people. The King is conscious of these, dangers, for his interest in politics has been always keen and personal, and he brings to theni a trainea mind and a sympathetic understanding, ARISTOCRAT AND DEMOCRAT. Looking across the table at. the tall, Jean figure, the sharp features, and thoughtful eyes behind black-rimmed glasses, I could not help feeling that this descendant of one of Napoleon's marshals has assimilated the character of the race he governs. Like the Swedes, he is a pleasing blend of aristocrat and democrat. Ilis family might be called in evidence of tlie democratic strain, for of his brothers one is a doctor and another an artist, and neither can be styled amateur. But this proof of atavism is not needed if you have talk with his Majesty. His attitude towards life is frankly democratic — tempered, perhaps, with a vein of sadness that may be bowi of the moment. The King, 1 am told, is not a soldier. He has none of the martial instincts of his great namesake or of the founder of his dynasty. This may be so, yet I am sure that ho is not wanting in courage, and that If war\menaced his country, he would place himself at the head of the army as readily and as confidently as he assumes the government. Officers with whom I have spoken — old comrades of mine in South Africa and Manchuria — do not hesitate to declaro that had Gustaf been King in 1905 the preparations of , the- headquarters staff would not have been in vain, and the kingdom would not have been divided. Into these perilous mysteries I will not presume to enquire. It is well perhaps that the Swedes have this faith to salve their wounded prida Happily, ths danger of war has ceased to be imminent, and the energies of both countries are turned to peaceful rivalries. ' LAWN TENNIS CHAMPION. If not a soldier, his Majesty is, at any rate, a sportsman. He rides like a centaur; shoots like the Prince of Wales or Earl de Groy, v and plays ten l nis like a Doherty. ' Some of his subjects — you may be sure they 1 are Republicans — hint that io would be more in keeping. with the dignity, of his position if he played tennis only .with his courtiers! They forget that the true sportsman is the true democrat, and that sport — even the sport of kings — is not only a bond, but a levellei. To these exercises, as to music — of which also he is a devotee — his Majesty will have little time to give. The duties of King in Sweden are no sinecure. He must preside over every Council of State, and is responsible for every act of administration. Some people will tell you that he is impatient of discussion and detail, but those who know him best declare him to bo the embodiment :of steady endurance. His courtesy and good nature, I am sure, are inoxhaustible, for at the end of a long audience he dismissed me with the corn" niand that I must return in the spring when the snows have melted and the sun has warmed and' gilded these nortnern lands. As he stood there 1 , holding my hand in his— a tall, slender figure clothed in deep mourning— l, could not , v help saying, "To be a king is -not v an easy thing." Even the meanest of his subjects may have an" opinion • and express it. A constitutional monarch can have no opinion that he dare express without risk. He is the mirror of his Ministers, and what is white one day may be black the next. There are monarchs who are not content to be mirrors, but In Sweden the times are out of joint, . and the King who would reign must walk firmly and warily.