PRINCE OF WALES AS SOCIALIST

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue XLVIII, 22 May 1914, Page 6

PRINCE OF WALES AS SOCIALIST

VISITS LONDON SLUMS IN DISGUISE. The following cable message to the "Chicago Tribune" will remind some of the saying attributed to Edward VII., when he was Prince of Wales —"We are all Socialists now" : It is learned that the real reason for the hurriedly-arranged visit of the Prince of Wales to Norway and other Continental countries was the discovery by the King and Queen of ■certain clandestine visits by the Prince to the poorest parts of the East End of London, of the suddenly developed interest taken by the Prince in Socialism, the avowal by the Prince of his agreement with some of the most startling doctrines of the Socialists, and his clostassociation at Oxford with a group Of young men who ardently desire to see the existing social structure greatly altered.

The Prince heard some of these men speak at the Oxford union, and the ideas expressed were so new to him that he became anxious to learn more, to which end he invited two o'f them for breakfast. Both of their.- were of most aristocratic birth and undertook to prove to the heir apparent that their ideas were right by showing him some of the worst sweating done in London and places where two and three families occupy one room.

In order that the visit should not be prevented by the. King and Queen oT by the numerous tutors and guardians surrounding him. the Prince went to Buckingham when the court was not in London on the plea of attending to some affairs in connection with the administration of the duchy of Cornwall estate. For two whole days the Prince, with one of his friends —both disguised as casual labourers out of work—visited some of the worst slums in London.

No royalty in England has ever seen what- -the Prince saw. With his friend he visited quarters in Shoreditch and Jloxton, where the .police themselves always travel in couples, it being unsafe for one to go alone. The experiences of the Prince profoundly affected him, and since his adventure there have l>aen several gatherings of Socialists at Oxford in the Prince's rooms. Word of these meetings of course soon reached the King, and further enquiries (brought to light the visits to. the East End. His Majesty was greatly displeased with the Prince for making such a trip ■without bis sanction. It was the avowal of the Prmce when rebuked by the King and.Queen that he agreed "with some of the inost startling theories of his new friends that decided the King to have his eldest son leave Oxford immediately and visit his aunt, the Queen of Norway, with an automobile tour in Germany to. follow. All this was arranged in a few days.. . None of the Prince's new friends are in any "way dangerous conspirators, 'but are merely" a group of young men nlleo with "what an Oxford don describes as a rather exaggerated sense of their duty toward their neighbours." The great fear of the King and Queen is, however, that the Prince may become infected with Socialistic ideas at an impressionable age, which might prove difficult to eradicate later.