PRINCE CAROL

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 13 August 1927, Page 9

PRINCE CAROL

A\ iS the result of a series of conversations with the intimate friends of all the Jk 3k characters, lam able to tell for the first

time the full story of Carol, Roumania’s Prince Charming, and of the two beautiful women who, differing as the two poles in character and social status, have played the leading parts in his life.

Prince Carol is acclaimed by his many loyal friends as a man endowed with exceptional gifts, with a broadminded conception of the rights and duties of a monarch, and free from the majority of the weaknesses of princes and of commoners. This opinion I find to be widely shared bj' the common folk of Bucharest. Yet Carol seems to have thrown away a throne as the result of his one great failing, which liis best friends do not try to minimise—his weakness where the opposite sex is concerned. This makes him his own greatest enemy. Nevertheless, Carol remains to-day the riddle of the Balkans, writes G. F. R. Gedye in the “Sydney Morning Herald.”

Madame Lambrino, his first wife, is the daughter of an aristocratic Roumanian family. While she is undeniably beautiful, her greatest asset is her wonderful charm of manner, .which has been found irresistible by all who have come into contact with her—except Queen Marie. From the moment, when, duringthe war, Madame Lambrino went to Odessa in order lo marry Prince Carol, the Queen of Roumania became her bitter foe. She regarded her, not only as a designing woman who had “entrapped” her son —a grotesque misapprehension of the devotion which the two felt for one another —but feared the democratising influence in the State of the marriage with a person not of Royal blood, more especially as the Prince already had the name of being a “Republican.” The story that Carol's troubles with the. Queen have been solely of a personal nature is thus quite untrue- His democratic sentiments speedily brought him into conflict with Bratianu. the ex-Premier, and the most powerful influence in Roumania through his control of banking, oil, and landed interests. Another dangerous enemy whom he made was Prince Stirbey, the autocratic adviser of the Queen. According to .the story which finds universal acceptance in Bucharest, matters got to such a pitch between Prince Carol and Prince Stirbey that the former struck the great land-owner in the face as the result of an observation which stung Carol beyond endurance.

From that time onwards the Queen had valuable allies, in the persons of Prince Stirbey and M. Bratianu, in her self-appointed task of getting rid of Madame Lambrino. The two men were also determined that, if possible, the Prince should go with her. “It is the tragedy of Roumania as well as of Carol,” said a prominent Bucharest leader to me, “that the Queen

RIDDLE OF THE BALKANS

AN INTIMATE SKETCH

should have determiend to wreck this match. The population was delighted at the idea of a Roumanian bride for the future sovereign. It is impossible to deny that Madame Lambrino would have worn the consort’s crown most worthilv.”

Broken-hearted and dis-spirited after the long struggle, he finally consented to the annulment on technical grounds of his marriage, leaving Madame Lambrino with a charming son, who is now seven years of age, and the very image of the Prince. She had to agree not to live permanently in Roumania, though she is allowed to spend a good proportion- of every year there, and in consideration of her acceptance of these terms she was awarded a large sum of money.' She has one fault—hopeless extravagance, and the money is all gone today.

Under these circumstances, Carol’s marriage in If)21 to Princess Helen of Greece was foredoomed to failure. After the birth of Prince Michael, he sank into despondency. His only interest seemed to be in demonstrating his dislike of Bratianu, which he missed no opportunities of doing. It was in this state of mind that two years ago he made the acquaintance of Madame Lupescn- The daughter of a Bucharest chemist, married to a Roumanian officer of junior rank from whom she is livingapart, she was staying at this time at an inexpensive boarding-house in Bucharest with her mother, while looking for a post. She was in every way a strong contrast to the ambitious and aristocratic Madame Lambrino. The suspicions which were aroused were confirmed one morning by the news that Madame Lupescu was missing from her boarding-house and Prince Carol from his palace. It is just as much a mistake, however, to regard her as an adventuress as it is to believe this of Madame Lambrino. Madame Lupescu realised, when she fled with him from Roumania, thal it would mean the end of everything for the Prince, and she is sharing with Prince Charming in Paris a life of poverty and real hardship, in perfect contentment.

Is Carol’s part in Roumania finally played out ? Every official to whom I put this question, replied in the affirmative.

“The Prince is a waster and a hopeless degenerate,” declared one of the chief officials of the fSiguranga, the dreaded political police, a few days ago. Roumania, however, is a Balkan country where the officials say what is expected of them. Everywhere is Bucharest, and still more in Transylvania, I found that Carol was the most popular member of the Royal family. His friends scoff at the suggestions of degeneracy, and declare that Carol is a brilliant and liberal-minded statesman, who is even now engaged on an important book on Roumanian jmlitical conditions.