A Privileged Prince.

Golden Bay Argus, Volume VII, Issue 69, 26 September 1901, Page 2

A Privileged Prince.

The Late' Prince Henry of Battenwerg. An anonymous contributor to the April "Century," who saw much of Queen Victoria at Osborne in 1886, says that Princess Beatrice's husband, the late Prince Henry of Battenberg, was allowed by her Majesty privileges which others would never have dreamed of taking. We heard some stories about Prince Henry, how lie stopped the chimes, so that his unpunctuality might not be noticed ; and a tale of his once not being able to get back in time for the royal dinner. Out sailing, and being becalmed, the time slipped away, and he saw with terror the dinner hour approaching. At last, after much manoeuvring and rowing his little sailing boat part of the way, he was able to struggle to land several miles from Osborne, and got some kind of broken-down conveyance to take him to the Castle. Arrived at the lodge, the vehicle was refused admittance; to the Prince's despair, he was obliged to get out and show himself before they would open the gates, he chafing the while at the waste of precious minutes. In spite of all his efforts, when he finally reached the Castle he found the royal party already seated at table. There was _no remedy, and so, making the best of a bad job, he walked quietly into the dining-room, just as he was, in his rough, wet yachting suit, and made his apologies to the Queen so simply and was so; bright and pleasant about it that lie was able to carry off what would have been an absolutely unpardonable offence in another.