EX-KINGS OF EUROPE

Franklin Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 20, 19 February 1934, Page 6

EX-KINGS OF EUROPE

FALLEN MONARCHIES Will They Rise Again? Herr Adolf Hitler’s recent decision that it would be inopportune for a monarch to take the helm in Germany makes one wonder if, having tasted the sweetness of power, he is loath to give it up. If that be the case, he is only acting in conformity with Admiral Horthy, of Hungary, and Salazar, dictator of Portugal. Both these worthies before they came into power were regarded as staunch monarchists. A few months at the helm, however, changed their views. While Horthy is busy finding excuses why Austria should have no king, Salazar, of Portugal, has even gone so far as to suppress all references to the idea.

Whatever one’s private opinion on the subject, there is no gainsaying the fact that the use many of the dictators of Europe have made of their power has caused many thinking people to declare that a return to the monarchical system could not be anything but an improvement. They point to the chaos and civil slaughter in Germany. They urge that the apathy that endangers communism in Hungary is the result of upstart rule. In Hungary the tyrannies of usurpers have led. to mushroom-like improvisations that cannot endure. In Spain they can justly point to sacrilege, plunder, oppression, and countenanced disorder, that was ushered in with the Republic. In the Balkans a reign of terror, instigated by regicides, has surpassed, if anything, the abominations that were tolerated in Soviet Russia.

The Position In Germany

Whatever the truth about the need for dictatorships in Europe, the fact remains that there are enough legitimate kings in waiting to fill every vacant throne. Some, indeed, contend that civil slaughter and chaos would be avoided if the thrones were filled. Assuming that the Kaiser and the Crown Prince are each barred from becoming Emperor .of- Germany by their abdication oaths, there are others who could be legitimately asked to fill the role. The Kaiser has other sons eligible for the position. Indeed, there is the rightful heir, the eldest son of the Crown Prince. It has been suggested on more than one occasion that he should be raised to the throne as William 111. His unauthorised matrimonial affairs, however, have affected his chances. The chances at the moment seem to be equally divided betwee'n this individual, in spite of his marriage, and the fifth son of the Kaiser, Prince Oscar, who again, it must be admitted, has complicated matters by a morganatic marriage. It will be seen, therefore, that in Germany Hitler will never be short of excuses why he should not rule on.

In strong contrast to Germany, there does not seem to be any reason why Austria should not have a king at once. The Austrian Republic, as Herbei’t Vivian points out in his remarkable book, “Kings in Waiting” (Hamish Hamilton), was never fathei’ed by a popular demand. A few resolute ruffians contrived to seize the reins and nobody had the courage to dislodge them. Otto, Emperor of Austria and Apolistolic King of Hungary, actually exercises sovereign rights from Streenockerzeel, near

Brussels, where he lives with his mother the ex-empress Zita. It is said that he is a studious youth, and “he will proceed to his second degree if God does not summon him elsewhere in the meantime.”

Serbia and Jugo-Slavia. As for the other countries in Eastern Europe, in many cases power has been acquired by regicides who may or may not found dynasties. Peter Karageorgevitch, of gipsy descent, after condoning the brutal murder of the King and Queen of Serbia, reigned in their stead over the hotch-potch called Jugoslavia. His son Alexander is now King, and, if anything, he is more brutal than his father. Montenegro was annexed by Serbia when the Montenegrin army was away at the Great War. At the point of the bayonet a packed Parliament was forced to vote the incorporation of Montenegro as a department of the newly-constructed Kingdom of the Serbs. Their King, Nicholas, died in exile on the Italian Riviera. His eldest son, Prince Danilo, shows no

eagerness to become King of Montenegro. After a brief reign, in exile, lasting six days, he abdicated in favour of his nephew Michael, now aged 21 years. It is perhaps significant that the Jugoslavian muddles may be straightened out eventually by this young man. Through his mother he can rightly claim the throne, “ot only of Montenegro, but of Serbia as well. His brother Paul is the heir-apparent.

Greece is yet another country without a king, for in 1922, as a result of pressure from outside, King Constantine abdicated. At the moment, however, his return has received the benevolent assent of several foreign Powers, including the British Foreign Office and Mussolini, who eagerly awaits his return. From time to time it is said that his Majesty cancels his London engagements and travels to the frontier of his country to await the call that for some reason never comes.

A King Up Their Sleeve. It is not only the smaller kingdoms of Europe that have kings waiting, so to speak, on the doorstep. In spite of the fact that the Romanoffs were practically exterminated, exiled Russians still keep a king up their sleeve. France, a republic for many generations, has many zealous Frenchmen anxious to see a king occupy the throne. Indeed, there are at least two claimants to the throne of France. On the death, not long ago, of the socalled “King of France,” Henry V., his rights passed to the head of the Spanish Bourbons. Spain, incidentally, has at least three claimants to her throne, if we include Alfonso, recently exiled. So far as France is concerned, the house of Orleans thinks differently on the subject, for the Duke of Guise, the head of the house, declares that he alone is entitled to occupy the throne of France, owing to a death-bed declaration quibble. Whatever be correct, the fact remains that King Charles XII., an octogenarian, at the moment styles himself King of France. His heir is the Comte de Caserta, head of the Sicilian Bourbons, and therefore connected intimately with Italy.

It will be seen that a return of a monarch to France and in many other countries would undoubtedly cause, if not bitter civil war, at . least undying hatreds and disintegration. One feels that Herbert Vivian, in his recent book “Kings in Waiting,” fails to stress this aspect of his subject sufficiently.

Nevertheless, it is a hook that all thoughtful individuals should make a point of reading, even if they fail to see eye-to-eye with its author in every case. They will obtain at any rate a

clear perspective of kaleidoscopic Europe and her’exiled monarchs.