STORIES TOLD AT ROTHESAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22024, 5 August 1933, Page 17

STORIES TOLD AT ROTHESAY

PRINCE OP WALES AND SIR lAN HAMILTON. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, June 23. The Prince of Wales on June 17 paid his first visit to Rothesay, the Royal burgh from which he derives his premier Scottish title, Duke of Rothesay. To pay the visit he spent two nights in the train, travelling from London on Friday night to Gourock—where the destroyer Valorous was waiting to take him to the Isle of Bute—and back to London on Saturday night. On landing at Rothesay the Prince was greeted by thousands of holiday-makers and by largo numbers of ex-servicemen who were present for the annual conference of the Scottish section of the British Legion. The Prince’s purpose was both to attend this conference and to receive the freedom of the burgh. Provost Halliday, in confirming the freedom, said that on January 12, 1401, there gathered at Rothesay Castle a distinguished assembly. King Robert 111 of Scotland and his son, David .Duke of Rothesay, -were present, and the King graciously granted a charter in favour of the burgh. So far as was known no Duke of Rothesay had since entered the castle. “MY OLDEST SCOTTISH TITLE.”

On receiving his burgher’s certificate in a silver casket from Provost Halliday, the Prince said:

“ This title, Duke of Rothesay, which I am so proud to claim, is the oldest of my Scottish titles. It dates from the 14th century, and was first held by one whose name I bear. Over 500 years have elapsed since the creation of this title, and you in Rothesay may well have wondered how many years it would be before the present holder came to set foot in the burgh.— (Laughter.) —I have refused more than one cordial invitation since I came of ago to pay you a visit, and although this visit is long delayed, if it is true that since those days of Robert 111, no Duke of Rothesay has entered these historic castle halls, I am doubly glad to be the first to remedy the omission.”

Accompanied by Provost Halliday, the Duke of Montrose, Lord Bute, and the other nobility, the Prince walked through the cheering crowds to the Winter Garden, where the British Legion was in conference under the chairmanship of Lord Haddington. There he had a rousing reception from the delegates. At the outset of his speech, the Prince said:—

" When I left the King at Ascot yesterday—highly delighted with his win—(laughter) (the King won the Hardwicke Stakes with Limelight)—he asked me where I was going. “ I said, ‘ I am going to Rothesay, because I have been Duke of Rothesay 23 years and I have never paid them a visit.’

“ The King said, * I was Duke of Rothesay nine years and I never paid them a visit. You had better throw those nine years in and pay a visit for both of us.’”—(Laughter.) The Prince added, “ Not, mind you, that his Majesty or myself are proud of keeping away so long, but I think you will admit that the team work is good.” (Laughter.) A BET, Sir lan Hamilton, extending a vote of thanks to the Prince, said the Prince promised at dinner recently that he would go to Rothesay, for the legion conference, adding that lie intended to wear the Duke of Rothesay tartan. “ I had firmly in my mind,” said Sir lan, “that the tartan was a beautiful blue and purple. The Prince said it contained red. I said, ‘I will bet you a sovereign there is no red in it,’ and the Prince replied, ‘ Right.’ ” Amid laughter Sir lan Hamilton paid up his lost bet, and the Prince, laughing heartily, handed the money to the Earl of Haddington for the British Legion funds, saying, “ I am glad Sir lan has paid mo this debt.” FULL OF LUNATICS. Another story told by Sir lan was about an encounter during the recent Legion Conference in London, He said he was following the Prince into the hall when someone gripped him firmly by the coat. “Who are you?” he asked. The man said: “I am an ex-serviceman, and I have been in all your wars—in Tirah, in South Africa and the Dardanelles.” Sir lan told him, “ That’s all right, but why are you holding on to my coat so tight?” He replied, “After these wars I had to go into a lunatic asylum. I escaped to-day.” “ t was very polite to him,” said lan, “ and said, ‘ That is all right. You come in here with me—the place is full of lunatics.’ ” LIVES SPARED! Then came the story of an incident while the Prime Minister was entertaining 600 foreign delegates to the Economic Conference in an hotel in Park lane. Sir lan said that he was attending a regimental dinner and, looking out of the window, saw hundreds of motor cars drawn up. He was told that Mr Ramsay MacDonald was entertaining hundreds of delegates to the conference. “I took a pipe band of the Gordons, and they marched round and round the room,” said Sir Inn. “The delegates seemed absolutely staggered, and burst into loud applause. I was pleased, but I heard afterwards that they had applauded so much because their lives had been spared! ”