PRINCE OF WALES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20282, 15 December 1927, Page 4

PRINCE OF WALES.

«— AN AMERICAN VIEWPOINT. The Prince of Wales's stay with Prince George in Canada has led to much space being devoted to the heir to the British throne in American newspapers and magazines. The American Review of Reviews publishes a striking article. Explaining why the Prince is good " copy/' the writer enumerates the honours and distinctions conferred upon him. He then goes on to say : " Yet, when you have made every allowance for pedigree and prospects, and for the" ingrained sycophancy of mankind, there remains something to be accounted for. If the Prince interests the world, it is because he himself is interesting. He 13 seen to be a man who has made, and will continue to make, a definite contribution to history/' The writer recalls the reported remark of King Edward VII regarding the throne: "It will last my time, ft will last my son's time. After that, who knows?" " In the Prince there is vested, not a crown alone, but a chance. He is plunged into a civilisation that refuses any longer to take royalty for granted. ... He must be the common denominator of all classes, all races, and all religions in the far-flung British Empire. He put the point in a well-known jest at the expense of his brother-in-law, the somewhat austere husband of Princess Mary. 'Every day,' said the Prince with a laugh, ' T am becoming commoner and commoner, and every day Lascelles becomes royaller and royaller.' " The personal side of the Prince is thus frankly referred to: "Toward all and sundry, the Prince adopted an attitude unique among heirs to a throne. Usually such ' jobs,' as he calls them, are claimed by those who aspire to them. What the Prince claims is the right, if he wishes, to throw up his job. He is not a quitter But when he is criticised he is quite ready to hand over his duties to the Duke of York to ' Queen Elizabeth,' as he calls the Duchess, and to their baby. "It is not mere bravado. In more than one respect the Prince of Wales has been as good as his threat. There are held to be the highest reasons of State why the heir to the throne, now in this thirtyfourth year, should marry and secure the succession. Within reason, the choice of a bride has been unrestricted. He has met princesses from Italy, from Spain, from Belgium, from Denmark, and from Sweden. . . . Year by year the loveliesi debutantes were presented to him. . . . The hero of bachelors smiled .... and ultimately attended the wedding ot the girl to somebody else. "'The finances of the Prince of Wales, though ample, arc- strictly administered, nnd his life is arranged on principles fairly t(. be described as Spartan. Otherwise, he would never get through his week's work. "The real question is not whether tho Prince works hard enough —that everybody concedes —but whether he plays too hard. In order to keep Himself fit he i.~ resolute in his exercises.' The writer adds: " The real trouble i> that the Prince, when on the job some times goes on strike. Under the strain and stress of it all he throws the rules to the winds The Prince of Wales, young, cheerful, persistent, has incarnated the future. When the advertisers vongregate in London he advertises Britain. He is not a policy, not a thought, not a religion, but a mood and a faith. The Prince of Wales is the antidote of pessimism."