A TINY KINGDOM.
HONOUR FOR MONTENEGRO. By Telegraph.—Press Association.—Copyright. Vienna, August 13. The Powers have agreed that the principality of Montenegro shall this month be created a kingdom. The citizens of Cettinje, the capital, are at work day and night erecting tents and barracks to accommodate the 30,000 visitors expected to be present on the day of the proclamation to witness the various ceremonies.
NICHOLAS THE FIRST. The little principality of Montenegro (area, 6436 square miles) has a population of about 225,000. The reigning prince, Nicholas ]. of Montenegro (or iSikita, as he is usually called), is what the French call " un bon garcon." H« is 68 years of age, and there is probably no ruler on earth more beloved by his people. Simplicity is, perhaps, the secret of the prince's popularity, llis palace resembles a prosperous bourgeois residence in France, and his mode of life is on the same modest scale. The " palace " has a large but treeless garden, and a couple oi' sentries stand by the front door—these alone denoting that this is the Royal residence. The Crown Prince has a more pretentious dwelling some distance away, but the second son, Prince Mirko, lives opposite his father in a squalid row of houses occupied by minor officials. There is but little court ceremony or etiquette at the palace, and the poorest subject- or most obscure stranger is received, as a ride, without preliminary formalities. Prince Nikita is, like all Montenegrins, devoted to sport of all kinds, and is also a writer of no mean repute, several of his plays having b-een produced at the tiny playhouse at Cettinje. The prince has a keen sense of humour, and is still as buoyant in spirits as his youngest subject. An eye-witness relates that at the public announcement of his daughter's betrothal to the Prince of Naples, Nikita f. was seized by a dozen brawny mountaineers and carried bodily down the main street of his capital, roaring with laughter like a schoolboy ! On a recent occasion also, the ruler of Montenegro's love of a Mike was shown by his reply to a Minister of one of the Great Powers, who, during a. reception at the palace, was regretting that the exports of the country were of such a meagre and valueless description. " Well, I don't know," rejoined the prince, with a twinkle in his eye; " what about my daughters V
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New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14453, 20 August 1910, Page 7
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398A TINY KINGDOM. New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14453, 20 August 1910, Page 7
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