TO BE A KING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23707, 14 January 1939, Page 24

TO BE A KING

PRINCE LOSES PLAYTIME BELGIUM’S ROYAL CHILDREN There is a very young man in Belgium who is beginning to understand the import of the fact that his full name is Prince Baudouin Albert Axel Marie Gustave, Duke of Brabant, Crown Prince, and heir to the Belgium throne, states the Christian ■ Science Monitor. He went to Bruges, Belgium, not long ago, with his sister, Princess Josephine Charlotte. There was a good deal of official ceremony. But “ Joe ” wasn’t there. There was a procession in honour of the royal children. But no railroad like the one they hoped to build at Laeken Castle. They didn’t, of course, mention the fact, for they are learning to be rulers themselves, some day, and already they have begun to learn the intricacies of kingship—an education said to be just a little different, and just a little harder than normal schooling. For eight years Prince Baudouin had spent most of his time as any normal boy. His donkey, "Joe,” was the envy of his less-noble playmates: his proposed railway to carry “Joe” and his friends around the grounds of Laeken Castle was far removed from kingly thoughts. Perhaps the first inkling of approaching royal duties came upon entering school. In this case school meant a private tutoring class held each morning in the royal palace. His mother, the late Queen Astrid, started this school, it being attended by four young daughters of Belgium nobility who accompany the Princess, and five sons of Belgium nobility, who attend the Prince. Here is indeed a school fit for kings, for the training is prescribed solely for king-making. For kings are not only born, they are also made . . . which means that a day at the beach may too often be superseded by attendances at a royal reception; a picnic in the woods may give way to some public function which must be attended by young royalty. Childish pranks begin to give way to regal decorum; a life of tops, dolls, and picture books to a life devoted to the nation.