PRETENDER IN EXILE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 147, 23 May 1934, Page 11

PRETENDER IN EXILE.

“JOHN 111 OF FRANCE.’” LIKELY HOME IN ENGLAND. A home in England is being sought for the Due de Guise, the Pretender, and the rest of the exiled French royal family. They are now living at the Manoir d’Anjou, near the Franco-Bel-gian frontier. Count de Gramont, a prominent royalist courtier, arrived in London a few weeks ago by an early train and took a suite at ail exclusive London hotel. During the course of the day he received visits from well-known house agents. Since the Due de Guise issued his manifesto on the occasion of the Paris riots last year, a manifesto which the commission of inquiry., lately sitting in Paris, has declared to have led to bloodshed, the presence on Belgian soil of the French Pretender has become a source of embarrassment to the Government of King Leopold. Belgium is too nekr France, and the constant intriguing of Royalists across the frontier has been annoying both Governments.

The last Pretender, the Due d’Orleans. resided permanently in Eng-, land, and at one time owned both York House, Twickenham, and Wood Norton, Warwickshire. There he lived in regal state, and made county squires wear knee breeches when dining with him. An estate similar to Wood Norton is being sought, as the French authorities will raise no objection to a British residence. The Due de Guise —“King John 111 of France” —is head of the House of Orleans, successor of the long line of Bourbon monarchs who once ruled France. He has a 25-year-old son, the Count of Paris, and a grandson.

Sixty years or more ago the ancestor of the Due de Guise, the Count of Chambord, then head of the French royal house, was offered the crown. He refused to rule under the Tricolour of the Revolution, demanding the former white flag with the golden lilies of his royal forebears. The French Parliament refused to yield to the request for the change of flag. Otherwise “King John III.” might be reigning over France today.