PRINCESSES AS SOLDIERS

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4303, 12 March 1901, Page 7

PRINCESSES AS SOLDIERS

It was recently announced that the German Emperor had appointed the present Queen of England to be Colonel oi the Ist Prussian Dragoon Guards, iu succession to the late Queen Victoria. _ Female officers are unknown to the British

army and navy. Indeed, the distribution of honorary British commands is carefully restricted to a few.members of the Royal.yam|Ly ; Qjrfip European Scver- ■ <-:“1 1 b, aJiorditji Agaished British of- • ficerwhose appoio.tm.ent as colonels iu -chiei/of oatiaatr regiments is as much a A.-ViiijdiiueStwto-the regiments- as the ol•Hi&SjkjH Buhlad-y are unknown to th’e Briti&'Fanriy andpnavj’vj They are, ho'whVer,, Veryqcpmmdii ii'* , wig ! i3^ erman .army, the present Kaisey/having been '"ptji-ticiAlany liberal, in, the, distnlroti? ll ot-lhese army honours among the female rll»j - alties of Eu,v°pe,. --The ‘Victor;.> "was ColSdbl of_a Prdssian cegi* ment, the Tst Dragoon” Guards, having been nominated-of. regiment- hty J Jjhaperor AVilliam, wlimfcis now transfcri®d_ that f.-ounniuul to the prvseui Q-ijiftn’ef ikakt land. The lato r Qnecn garooUwore ethe uniform of her ’-rohally on pter sent Queen will hi all the glory of martllQ athixe wlhhierVr slid visits Berlin, The Royalty in military u’nifbrjn 'njiptnd onq irresistibly ci cojnic ' opera. Irid-geil;' I here is cvei-ything.thoatdiicaj about .these J-.onorary comm anils .’altogether.-- -'lt is really a ease of tbp-distinguished ladies “playing at soldier's.” 'They possess no regimental or .military power, but they are supposed to Lake an interest in their regiments, to occasionally visit teem, and shew a desire to, know the officers and ladies of the regiments. On the birthday of the honorary colonel, a deputation from the regiment is generally sent to offer congratulations, and on field days the lady colonel sometimes appears at the head of her regiment, and, by her presence, causes the regiment to ha more noticed than wold otherwise be the case. As far as the colonels aria concerned, the position's are purdly ornamental, but their appointment often affords the officers of the regiment the opportunity of obtaining good positions in the army or at Court.

Tho Gorman Emperor, as lias been said, is very fond of conferring those military honours on thei Princesses of his House, and also on the wives of foreign Sovereigns. The Empress Alexandra Fcodorovua of Russia is Colonel of the 2nd Prussian Guards, which bears her name as the Ist Dragoon Guards bears the name of the Quean of Great Britain an I Ireland. 'The Russian Empress- is also the Colonel of a Russian regiment, the Uhlan Guards. Her mother-in-law, the Dowager Empress, is the chief of_a great; number of regiments—the Imperial Russian Chevalier Guards, the 2nd Guard Ourassiers, the 4th Dragoons, the 32nd Dragoons and 46th, Dragoon Regiment ; and she is also an honorary Admiral of the Russian fleet, an honour which she shares with the Queen of Greece. The Empress Frederick, soon after her marriage, was given!, the command of a Prussian regiment by the Kaiser Wilhelm 1., and several times was present, mounted, when her regiment (the 2nd Guard Hussars) were inspected, and led it past the saluting point. A fevv years back Qni German Emperor gave Ins mother a second regiment, the 80th Fusiliers, stationed at .Wiesbaden and Hornberg. The German Empress, who is an accomplished horsewoman, is Colonel of the Guard Cuirassiers and of the Schles-wig-Holstein Fusiliers, No. 86.\ She is often present at reviews, and leads her troops past tho saluting base. Kaiser Wilhelm has made bis four sisters Colonels of Prussian regiments. The eldest, the Hereditary Princess Charlotte of Saxe,Meiningdn, is Colonel of tho 2nd Silesian Regiment, No. 11, stationed at Breslau, where sho resides. His second sister, the Princess Victoria zu Schaum-burg-Lippe, is Colonel of the sth. We&tphaliau Regiment, which is stationed at Cologne, not far from her home at Bonn. The Crown Princess, of Greece was made chief of a guard regiment, that of- the Konigin Elizabeth Grenadier . Guards. The Princess Friedrich Carl of HesseOassol is colonel of tho 83rd Infantry Regiment, stationed, at Fraukfort-on-Maiue. Her husband is an officer in tho same regiment, and the Prinqess is his military superior. Two or three years ago the German Emperor made the then Queen (now Dowager Queen) Margaret of Italy the colonel of the Jager Battalion, No. 11. Hor Majesty appeared in the uniform during her stay in Germany. Tho uniform! is most ‘'becoming” to her, but, like the German Empress, sho has somewhat modified the-headgear sho wears with it. Queen Wilhebnina is ohiof of. the 15th Prussian Hussars, and her mother, Queen Emma-, is colonel of a Prussian infantry regiment. Among other Princesses who have regiments in Germany are the Princess Friedrich Carl of Prussia, the mother of the Duchess of Connaught, who is colonel of the Second Brandenburger Dragoons ; the Duchess of Connaught, .who is colonel of No. 64 Brandenburg Infantry Regiment; and; tho GivtrJu Duchess of Baden is chief of the Konigin Augusta Regiments The Grand Duchess of Hesse is colonel of the Third Grand Ducal Hessian Body Regiment, No. 117, stationed at Mainz. She very often inspects her regiment, and is very fond of appearing in uniform. The Grand Duchess of Mecklen-butg-Schworin. is colonel of a Russian regiment, and the. Duchess of SaxeCoburg -Gotha (the Duchess of Edinburgh) has been placed at the head of the Kaiser Alexander Regiment. The Queen of Saxony is colonel of the Second Royal Konigin Hussars, and the Queen of Wurtemberg is colonel of Second Wurtemberg - Dancer Regiment. ExQueen Nathalie of Servia is colonel of the Eleventh Servian Regiment; The Duchess, Vera of ..Wurtemberg is the chief of -a‘Russian’regiment, as well as colonel .of the 19th Wurtemberg Lancers. , '(he Princesses of the Imperial House. in Russia all receive regimental commands after marriage, as well as the wives of the “sous -of tho Czar. The Russian .Royal lady colonels include the Empress." tho Dowager Empress, the Grand Duchess the Duchess of Coburg, tho Grand Duohcss Xenia, the Grand Duchess Serge, tho Duchess Vera of Wurtemberg, tho Grand Duchess of Alexandra-Josephowna, and the Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Sohwer-iu.