KING MANUEL.

Evening Post, Volume LXXX, Issue 84, 6 October 1910, Page 7

KING MANUEL.

A BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. Of a life devoted for the most part, prior to his coronation, to quiet study and cultivation of the fine arts, with plenty of_ recreation thrown in 7 the outstanding feature in respect to the history of King Manuel JI. of Portugal Argonaut goes on to say: "To judge the Portuguese by the standards of other nations will lead to hopeless miscalculation. Eighty per cent, of the whole population are illiterate, without moral sense, lazy and improvident. There waa a time when the negroes of Lisbon were more numerous than the whites, and that this is not now the case is due was the tragic suddenness with which he was called in 1908 to the throne. Indeed, when his father (King Carlos) and brother (the heir-presumptive) were assassinated at Lisbon, the thoughts and ambitions of King Manuel (then Duke of Beja) were more inclined towards the sea than to the kingship of turbulent Portugal. As a youth he was trained as a sailor, serving as a midshipman on board the Portuguese man-of-war Africa. In this capacity he threw himself eagerly into a study of modern science and mathematics, and the technicalities o£ naval construction. HIS AMBITIONS. Manuel's great ambition, it is said, was to follow in the steps of his great ancestor, Prince Henry, the Navigator, and of his relative, the Duke of Abruzzi, and to win renown as a traveller and explorer. Physically he is tall, like his unusually tall mother, though he is pale and rather delicate-looking. ' ■ MATERNAL INFLUENCE. Born in 1889, he was, until a short time prior to his accession to the throne, always more-or less under the eye of J his mother. It was she who taught ( him "the three R.s," and perhaps no I son- in the world to-day was (and he I still is to a certain extent) more under ! the influence of his mother. From Queen Amelie he inherited artistic tastes and a strong love of books; he sketches, too, and is an excellent pianist. Like his father, King Carlos, he is an enthusiastic tennis player, while he emulates King Alfonso in his fondness for motoring. Although no literary king, it is said that he can converse fluently in four languages. A STRENUOUS AND RESTRICTED LIFE. Up till eighteen years he led a strenuous life, rising at 6 a.m., and '• thereafter being occupied with his i studies and lessons, walking, riding, I and other recreation until 7 o'clock in the evening. Indeed, so restricted was his daily life that it was not until Jie was thirteen years of age that he first went to a theatre. In November last year he visited England, and was cordially received, being spoken of at che time as passing without difficulty for being amiable, like his father, and, in a Portuguese sense, a gentleman. His enchanting manners, more than his good statesmanship, have (it has been written) served to make him personally popular.