PRINCE REBELS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22628, 16 January 1937, Page 2 (Supplement)

PRINCE REBELS

FORBIDDEN ROMANCE SIMPLE LIFE DESIRED "WITH GIRL OF MY DREAMS" After spending £200,000 in pursuit of pleasure, handsome Prince Said Halim, aged .34, scion of the Egyptian royal house and cousin of the present King Farouk of Egypt, plans to return to Egypt and settle down with "the girl of his dreams," writes Gwvn Lewis in the Sunday Chronicle, London. Previous marriage plans of the prince were opposed by the late King Fuad. A union between the prince and Miss Morwena Bird, an English girl, whose beauty was the talk of Cairo at the time of their engagement in 192.3, was forbidden. King Fuad stripped the prince of his rank and privileges, which were not restored until after the king's death. Family Divided When I saw the prince at Grosvenor House, London, recently, he said: — "There is opposition to my latest romance. Our family is divided. My mother objects on the ground that I ought to marry a girl of royal blood. 1 am determined not to marry any princess. "My aunt, who allows me £.3000 a year, has met my girl and approves of the match. "Who is the girl? Ah, that is a secret. Her first name is Kyros. She is the daughter of a prominent American property owner.

"1 am now planning to take the girl of my dreams to Cairo. "My great hope is to settle down to a simple life. We do not want to live in a palace. A nice flat in Alexandria will do. We do not want a penny from the Civil List. £SOO a Night "I also hope that the Government will find me work to do. i am tired of pursuing pleasure on the Continent, and now want to be of real use io my countrv.

"1 rail through £200,000 in seven years. 1 thought nothing of spending £'soo in a single night entertaining the members of a theatrical show. My losses in a single night at the gaming tables would sometimes be far more. "Then I had my yacht, my motorcars, my horses, everything that money can buy." L asked him whether he had any regrets. He said, "Not one. I have nothing to show for my extravagance, but whatever the future holds for me 1 shall be able to look back on a youth brimful of happiness."