THE PRINCE OF WALES

Hokitika Guardian, 22 July 1926, Page 4

THE PRINCE OF WALES

A WORLD PERSONAGE

LONDON, Juno 2

“If you conic to think of it, the Prince of Wales is the man who ■attracts more attention than any other living person,” writes Major F. E. Yerney in the first instalment of an authentic life study of the Prince in the current issue- of “Hutchinson's Magazine.”

The waiter, a personal friend, accompanied his Royal Highness in all unofficial capacity on his South African tour, and has had exceptional opportunity for enquiry of those who knew tiio Prince in his infancy and early childhood. Ha examines with care the influences which have moulded the Prince’s character, and the gradual effect of environment and cultivation on a fine disposition. “It is futile,” writes Major Verney, “to attempt to assess interest in tho Prince of Wales fly the conventional denominators of notoriety. The ordinary foot-rule of fame is an inadequate medium of measuring its significance. An intriguing paragraph oh the. Prince's skill at dancing is read with considerably more popular avidity than a column of his promise as an Ambassador. In fact, in obedience to the law of supply and demand, it is usually the dancing that gets the column and. tho diplomacy that gets the paragraph. This conception or the Prince of Wales is misleading because it is one-sided. It is not only one-sided, hut it is distorted. The distortion is all affectionate one, hut it is noiie the less a malformation. SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE. “The Prince lias never had any illusions of Divine favouritism or Providential partiality. On the other hand, there have been occasions when ho has suspected the .opposite. In his earlier days his rank was more than a handicap ter him; it was a heavy burden. ..In fact, to use his own words, ‘As a kill, it was the very devil.’ From the cradle his future was marked out for him by tho relentless laws of his own destiny, and by the hi ah scuso of service to the State a\ governs his family. He was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but a. curb hit. Nature provided the Prince with a large stock of the spirit of adventure, hut spiritually and physical! he was forbidden acquaintance with Chance. The whole stimulus of the, gamble of Existence was placed by Circiiinstai'ce within a ring fence marked with the warnign inscription: TNo admittance for the Prince .of Wales.’ “If .has ,often been alleged that the

Prince is a. reckless rider. 1 do not agree with this view, hut I do agieo that he takes chances, and seeks valuer than avoids a risk. I am. not at all surprised by this. If there is any room for surprise to anyone who knows him, it is in his comparative moderation. With his whole- existence earmarked, and his daily life lived to progamme, if is only natural that ho should ‘take a chance’ when he gets the opportunity. And Ids .‘chance.’ opportunities are

practically confined to tho hunting field and the polo ground. As to the preparation of the Prince for las high station. Major Verney says that the ultimate aim “was not the prevision of an exceptional education lor a Prince of Wales, or the manufacture

of a King, lint the moulding of a State servant wlio.se actions and conduct would he watched by the inhabitants of half the habitable earth, and whoso

character and personality would prove either ai.i asset, of incalculable value to the British Empire or a grievous liability to the British Constitution.’’ The Prince of Wales has taken, for the whole of June, the house at Sandwich, which he recently occupied for a few days after his ear operation. When the Prince went down to Sandwich to recuperate he was only able to make, a short stay, hut lie enjoyed the golf there thoroughly and was anxious to pay other visits as occasion arose. The Prince will go down whenever his engagements permit, probably at the week-ends. He has a pretty full list of engagements for .Tune, and the probability is that only a very few days in all will bo available for golf at Sandwich. The 1 rime has consented to open the Ross Institute and Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Putney 'Heath, on ■Julv 15th. The Government of Nigeria. as a mark of its appreciation of the' services rendered by Sir Ronald Ross to residents' in the tropics by his researches into the causation of malaria fever, has made a, grant of £IOOO to the funds of the Institute and Hospital.