ROYALTY AND SPEECHMAKING.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11934, 7 January 1901, Page 3

ROYALTY AND SPEECHMAKING.

The most arduous and trying of all the duties to be performed by the various members of our own and other Royal families is that of speeoh-m'aking. This is'their most frequent duty' which nearly every member of our Royal Family dreads. The following interesting "confessions" concerning this "dreadful, part of. our profession," as the Duke of York recently put it, will, we . hope, be found interesting to our readers. The Prince of Wales has humourously confessed: —'"When I was quite young and had to make a, public speech, I used to think that the platform was too large .for the room, and that I was too small for myself. Then, as it rule, I' had very little to. say, and/plenty of time to say it in j now. I seem to have plenty to say, but very little time. As .public speaking is . a duty inevitably attached to the 'office' of a Prince,' I treat it accordingly, and I do

my best, but . . ■It does not need a very Vivid imagination to suHv the rest of his Royal Highness's sentiments. The plain-spoken Duke of York candidly confesses that he never feels at home when speaking: "When one has to speak at a scientific meeting in the morning, a- bazaar in the afternoon, and to school children -in the evening, it makes one wish Hiat one had either the gift of oratory of a Gladatone, or that one had not been born a Duke of York. After a day like this I generally go to. bed with a mixture of chemistry, cushions, and children.". ' The popular Duke of Cambridge, as one might imagine, although not having so much "speechifying" to do as the other members of the Royal Family, speaks in a straightforward "John.Bull" style. The Duke says:—"l always try, when speaking in public, to 'strike straight from the shoulder,' although I am afraid the blow I aim is often. very feeble. Before I begin' speaking I always seem to have a threat deal to' say, but when I have been speaking five minutes I have generally said all I know." The Duke of Conn,night does not like public speaking in any shape or form, and has thus wittily expressed his aversion to it:—"Before commencing to spenk I generally feel as though I wanted a brandy-and-soda; and after finishing sp'eaking'l generally feel as though I wanted two." Turning from oiir own to the members

of other Royal Families, we find that the German Emperor has a- decided penchant for public speaking. .The Kaiser, as all the world knows, certainly does not lack in self-confidence, and has thus given, his opinion as . regards speechrmaking: —" As the ruler of a great'nation I know that I must of necessity have much to say to my people. Speaking with .conviction, I .rarely fail for words, and am often carried far beyond what I originally intended to say by the intense earnestness of my thoughts." The serious, earnest-minded young' Czar of Russia, who certainly doe's not take life frivolously, recently' said' to his Boyal cousin, the' Duke of York:—"The position of an Emperor carries with it many bardships, many anxieties; however, of all the duties I most dread it is that of having to speak publicly, no matter how small the audience may be. People-generally expect such a lot from an Emperor, but when I speak I feel how; little they. are getting." The Emperor of Austria is not a good speaker, and he himself confesses that it

"upsets his appetite" afc the very idea of having to say even a few words in public. Anent this there is a -good tale told, which occurred so recently that it may be regarded as quite new. The venerable Emperor had been speaking at a political political dirther, rather. According to his wont, his Majesty said a very , few words, , and these words' were, it' must be confessed, very loosely strung together; in fact, his ideas were very poorly expressed, Next morning the Emperor, on looking over the paper, noticed that "his Majesty had made a. most impressive and important speech," and it gave, in very flowery language, the address his Majesty was supposed' to have delivered. The'plain-spoken Emperor, turning to one of his attendants, said: "What's this?" "Sire," replied the. attendant . solemnly, "that is the speech it pleased vour Majesty to deliver last night." '.'The speech

I delivered!" replied his Majesty, thunderstruck. "Look here! Kindly go to the ass who stuck that in and tell him that I may be an Emperor, but lam not a d d orator!" " The King of Sweden, who was so recently our welcome and honoured guest, is a magnificent "all-round" scholar, He can speak fluently in several languages; and he is, never so happy as when addressing some learned society or-some public body. Quite recently his Majesty, in addressing the members of a.Society for the Cultivation of Foreign Languages, spoke during the evening in no fewer than' five different tongues. One of the members afterwards, in speaking to the King, said: "Your Majesty is a splendid linguist. Can your Majesty sppak Chinese?" "Sir," replied tlie King, with dignity, "I have many failings, as I myself well know; but Heaven forbid that I should ever be cursed with such a crime as that!"