GERMAN CROWN PRINCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17032, 13 December 1918, Page 4

GERMAN CROWN PRINCE

«l AN AMERICAN ESTIMATE; IRRESPONSIBLE YOUNG MAN. ; H The following character study of the x . Crown Prince of Germany is givan by jfrArthur N. Davis, the Kaiser's America-! fH dentist, in a chapter of his book, "Th 9 JiH Kaiser as I Knew Him for Fourteen'f| Years":— ; "I first saw the Crown Prince prof. eionally in the spring of 1905, a f eff I months before his marriage. He then 23 years old. Ho was in the uniform ' of a German Army officer, but looked & more like a corps-student, e.ccept for the fact that his face was not marked with a 1?' scar from duelling, as is usually the case •"?'' with most members of the German frater. I. nities. He had _ a habit of placing his ; hands oil his hips, and his coats were always flared in at the waist, which, with the sporty angle at which he wore his •- cap, gave him a swagger which was quite foreign to the rest of the officers of the army. He was of slender figure, which was accentuated by his height. He waj * f nearly six feet tall. He came into my office, I remember, with a copy of Life t in his pocket. He took it out and opened it, and showed me a cartoon of himself j ; which apparently caused him considerable V - amusement, and which, he said, he in. '-intended showing his . family. There were k two beautiful rings on his left Band, and f he wore a wrist-watch, although at that |l time wrist-watches were used almost ex- ;f - clusively by women. He seemed to b» bright and quick, but by no means brilliant. „ " Perhaps the quality exhibited by him 1 that impressed me meet on that first visit H'l was his excessive nervousness. He f f trembled all over. It was plain to see h» \i i was dreadfully afraid of pain, and hs " evidently realised that I had noticed hij ' condition. ' I suppose the Crown Pri nc# T: and the future ruler _ of Germany ought & '• to be brave at all times,' he remarked, 'but I just hate to have to go to a dentist!"

"In the years that followed I saw th« Crown Prinze many times driving through V the streets and at public functions, but I %■, did not comc in close contact with him. #3 I remember seeing him once in his ear" M as he was about to enter Brandenburger ii Tor, on his way up Unter den Linden, jp The familitr sound of his father's motor p behind him caused him to draw up. to l'-~ one side and stand at salute until the y | Kaiser had passed on ahead. It was just an illustration of the force of military dis- i ! ■ cipline which was bred in the bone of |v the Crown Prince. He simply did not dare drive up Unter • den Linden first knowing the Kaiser was following him. ' Criticism by the Army. ' i " When the Crown Prince called to «<« 0 { me again I was surprised to find a con. si siderable change in his general appear- S; ance. Although, of course, be was ten " years older, »he had 'aged more than I would have expected. There were lines'® on ' his face which made him look older than his 35 years. In the outer world hefif was generally believed to be one of the leading spirits of the military party in '• Germany, but among his own people he" S? was not credited with sufficient ability. or || influence to be much of a factor. Indeed, A',' within the past year he has •• beei.-§jjf criticised rather severely ' in army circles | for his indifference to the crisis in which'-Ss his country was . involved and for not |1J taking the war seriously enough, and, e from all I was able to observe of him ssf| during the visits he paid me after the re- ij§| sumption of our relations, these criticisms ..':;; 1 were well founded. The newspapers:, how- Jf* ever, which were naturally inspired, J always brought his name to the front v' whenever the army he was accredited to made anv successful showing, just as they i-| did in the case of the Kaiser. /•, .g u

' t," •Jewellery and Clothes. ... • . 1' $$$ ■i" I noted that the Crown Prince, seemed. to be vitally interested in his personal appearance " and in other ' trivial "thinW???, which one would have thought he might : very well have ignored in those serious i§ times. He was still as fond of jewellery,[j;' apparently, as he had-ever been, two new 1 rings which he wore affording him much . satisfaction. He showed me a new wristwatch attached to -an elastic-linked bracelet, -of which he seemed to be very proud, arid asked me what I thought of " it. It was more of the order of t'ne'wrisU - watches .worn by ladies than of: thafpf military style which is favoured by arm, • - -v men. He talked about a new two-seater, roadster which he was driving, and was*/-.'; very ranch elated over a new rain-; coat he was wearing. In fact, before is" left that day. Princess August Wilhelmp. -■ her sister, Princess Caroline of Schleswig;Holstein, and several" ladies-in-waiting had;. - assembled in my saloon to wait for . him, and when I: was through with him hi put on his new raincoat, and, walking into the saloon, strutted up and down in i runt of the ladies, inquiring how they likec the K ■ cut of his new coat. The war seemed.to be about the last thing on his mind. siflf " During bis various visits to me I tried... to draw him out a little on different aspects of the international situation, but'iff: I the ideas he expressed were not of much , J moment. • '

'" ' The Allies think we will run short of .man-power,' he said on one occasion, 'but we've got 2,000,000 youths growing up, and we'll soon be able to put them in tno war. There's no danger of our running ! shortj>f men, but, really, I wish it >were all over.' He talked as if the 2,000,009 growing-up youths •of Germany . were created for the Hohenzollerns to use as they pleased. . Treated War as a Joke. . " Many of the more sober officers told me that they were disgusied with tht; manner in which the Crcwn Prince, was acting at his headquarters. 'It is rally,? a disgrace,' they complained, 'for the Crown Prince to have so many questionable women visiting him. It ■ certainly doesn't set much of an example ; for the rest of the staff.' "The whole situation appeared to the Crown Prince very much in the light:of a joke. ' I've just come from the western front,' lie told me. 'My men are up-to their knees in water ' and mud. We've! been having lots of fun pumping the water out of our trenches into the French trenches.' S c ' _ " ' Well, I suppose the French pump'it-, right back again, don't they?' _' | "' You're quite right, quite right. That's exactly what they do. Really, it's a great lark!"