EXILED RUSSIAN PRINCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18565, 24 November 1923, Page 12

EXILED RUSSIAN PRINCE.

MEMBER OF MELBA'S PARTY.

FAITH IN COUNTRY'S FUTURE.

Prince Alexis Obolensky, a noble of the Russian Empire whom the tide of the century has deprived of his estates and the freedom to return to his own country, arrived from the United States • yesterdayby the R.M.S. Makura as one of the party of artists that Dime Nellie Melba is taking to Australia. The Prince is an optimist, for he feels that in time his great, country will be restored to a state of orderliness and safety and he will again be able to return with his family to his estates. . ' \ "The fact that I am singing for a living is a fairly - good indication of the state of Russia to-day," . said the Prince yesterday. "Nothing can: be done while the present regime controls^' affairs as they refuse to recognise the rights of property, but I feel that the constant changes taking place will eventually lead to more stable conditions and that it is only a matter of time when private estates will be restored to th»r rightful owners." Prince Obolensky, who is of robust physique, was ' formerly a • great landowner and went through the whole war as an officer of the Tsar's Guards and ' was ultimately proscribed and ruined. . He was then trained as a singer for two years in France and Italy and in London was taken up by the great prima donna and assured of a successful career. He, was with the Melba concert party in America as a basso cantante, but will later take up the great bass roles in grand opera. He speaks English fluently and has a command of French, Italian and German. He is' on his first visit to the antipodes and while on this tour the Princess and their five "children are living in France where, he says, quite an extensive Russian colony has grown up.