THE PRINCE OF WALES AND HIS PREDECESSORS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2509, 16 April 1902, Page 66

THE PRINCE OF WALES AND HIS PREDECESSORS.

A Welsh corespondent write* to Mo dern Society as follows : — •'The cieation of the new Pi nice of Wales came as a sudden surprise upon us but ne\erthele.s-s caused a groat outbuilt of loyal satisfaction in the PiuiujuaiiLy. How

different from the time when Edward I had to erect great frowning fortress castles, in order to maintain his mastery over the rebellious and sturdy Welshmen ! It was hoped by the Carnarvon people that the creation of the new Prince would have taken place at their fine old castle, in which Edward 11. the first Prince ot Wa.!os, was born ; but their hopes have been doomed to disappointment. "Not to be denied, however. North Walians are now seeking to have a public proclamation of the new Prince made at Rhuddlau. where Edwaid I held his Parliament, at which was passed the famous Statute of Rhuddlau. The beautiful niins of the castle now belong to Mrs RowleyCon roy, of Bodrhyddau — a lovely old Elizabethan mansion not far away— and a proclamation ceremony theie would be a highly interesting and picturesque affair. Perhaps the good people of this little, .^eepy old Welsh town will succeed wheie Carnarvon has failed. "A great effort is to be made to get the Prince and Princess of Wales to attend the ! National Eisteddfod, which ]■» to be held in summer at Bangor. If it be successful, there is little doubt the Royal couple will make their headquarters at Penihyn Cattle, the splendid seat of Lord Pcnrhyn." A misleading statement lately appeared in print to the effect that "the children of the new Prince of Wales became Royal Highnesses only by the death of the late Queen, which gave their father the dukedom of Cornwall. That title belongs, by the decision of Queen Victoria, only to the children of the Sovereign and the children of the Sovereign's sons." The truth is as follows : In 1898 letters patent under the Great Seal were granted, declaring that the children of the eldest son of any Prince of Wales shall at all tiuu> have the title of Royal Highness Queen Victoria herself decided this somewhat uncertain question, which only cropped up in hei reign for no English monarch had ever befoie seen any great-grandchildren. The infant son of Princess Charlotte of Wales, who died m 1817, Avas stillborn, therefore no discussion took place a* to its pioper style and title as a gipat-grandcliild of King George 111, then the nominal So- j veieign. It is only right that in the line j direct of young Princes and Princesses who j come nearer the Throne on the death of a King oi Queen Regnant, their exalted prospects should be considered. As regards other dc-ceudants of a monarch, by tbe time the fourth generation has been reached dignities tend to give out ; therefore in England the present Duke of Cumberland would only take a peer's rank, though he is entitled to the prefix of Royal Highness because his father was King of Hanover. The Russian Imperial Family includessome gieat-grandchildren of the Czar Nicholas I, who are not in the line direct, but belong to a side branch, being second cousins of the present Emperoi. They are styled Princes and Princesses, for the titles of Grand Duke and Grand Duchess only continue to the third generation of collateral lines. The new Princess of Wales ha» been known to the British public b\ a vai lety of titles since the year when ."-lie returned w T ith her parents from the Continent, and made her appearance in English society. The bonny young girl used to be fii 4 -! spoken of as Princess Victoiia of Tcck. Afterwards, when she attracted general interest a.s a possible futuie Queen, she became the Princess May. Her auspicious marriage made her Duchess of York With her lm«band she has visited the colonies as Duches* of Cornwall and York. As tins double title was only considered a tempolary makeshift It never came :ntu popular use, and nobody is sorry to take leave of it. There is general satisfaction th.it the Duchess luis now become Victoria Mary Princess of Wales, and everybody hopes that the Royal titles will remain as they now .stand for a very long time to come. The first Princess of Wales. Joan of Kent, was of English Royal blood, a gianddaughter of King Edwaid I She was 33 years of age. and a widow wifli four children when she mairied her kinsman, the Black Prince, heir to the Throne The wedding took place at Windsor three months after the death of her first husband. Sir John Holland; for in those days piolonged mourning was <i lanty. Joan's Royal sou, aftei wards Richard 11, died without children. Anne of Warwick, the second Piincess of Wa'es, had a history w Inch may be described as truth stranger than fiction Her first husband was the youtiiful Edward, Prince of Wales, son of Henry A*l ; and

she was afterwards compelled to mam' Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who had the credit of being her first husband's murderer. She died as Queen of England, Consort of Richard 111, having previously lost her only child. Prince Edward, the son of her second marriage. The third Piincess of Wales, Katharine of Aragon, had equally stirring and unhappy experiences. For a short time she was the wife of Arthur Prince of Wales, and as his widow she married his brother, and became immortalised in history as the first Queen of Henry VIII. Like Joan of Kent and Anne of Warwick, she remains unrepresented by Royal descendants, for her only daughter, Queen Mary, died childless. There were no Stuart Princesses of Wales George A'lgustus of Hanover, afterward 5 ? George II of England, was the first Prince of Wales who had a wife at the time of his cieation as such. He was 31 yeats of age when his father. George I. came to the English Throne ; and he had then been married nine years to Caroline of Anspach, daughter of John Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg- Anspacli. They had four children at the time, and four more wexe born in England. A« the fourth Princess of Wales and, late on, as Queen. Caroline helped to popularise the Hanoverian dynasty. The* filth Princess of WV.es was Augusta of Saxe-Coburg, th» wife of Fiederick Lewis. eldest son of George IT and Queen Caiolin" She left little v.urk en her times, and is best lemembered as the mother of Geoige 111. Her married life was- rendered mu-cinfortanle by the unnatural enmity exiting between hei husband and his parents Of Caroline of Brunswick, sixth Piincess of Wales, wife of the Prince w lio became George IV, it is unnecessary to s-iy much, except that she was quite l'nfit, by disposition and trailing, for a 'n.'h position. The seventh Princess of Wales i«- sti'l with us as Queen Alexandra, and may tiuthfullv be described as the gem of the collection. It !s interesting to note that lipi- present M \jesty is a descendant of C'.troline of Anspach, fourth Piincess of Wales, and Queen of George 11. Victoria Mary, the eighth nnd latest Princess of Wale*, also descends from Caroline of Anspach and from Augusta of Saxe-Coburg. a nearer predecessor in the title. A correspondent writes to the yin" paper a.s follows: — "At the time when Mary, daughter of Henry VIII. was his only ch^d, and about ten years- of age. that capricious monarch thought fit to compliment his Welsh subjects, and also accustom the English to the idea that they might eventually be governed by a Queen Regnant, by declaring Mary" heiress to the Crown and Piince,->s of Wales, and by sending her with a posse of councillors, and large letinue to rfside in tlic Principality and neighbouring countits. Her headquarters were at Ludlow, but she travelled constantly from place to place in great State, more than 300 persons accompanying her. Not long, however, was Mary Tudor allowed to maintain the Vice-regal dignity. She was recalled to her father's. Court for a possible mairiage to be considered, and within a few shoit \f<:i> her parents were divoiced, and she was set aside from the succession, deprived ot her title as Prinrp«s, styled 'Madame Mary ' by the King's ordeis-, and treated w tli the greatest harshness till Jane Seymour superseded Anne Boleyn."