EX-KAISER’S WEDDING.

Otago Witness, Issue 3590, 2 January 1923, Page 24

EX-KAISER’S WEDDING.

BOYCOTT OF THE JOURNALISTS. A SECRET SERVICE WEDDING. THE LORD OF DOORN. (From Ohr Own Correspondent.) LONDON, November 10. . Quite an army of newspaper correspondents seem to have assembled at Doom to gather news of the ex-Kaiser’s wedding. From their reports in many papers, however, it would seem that they were all reduced to climbing femes and evading policemen. An official communique was issued by Wilhelm’s own “Court Chamberlain ” but of the actual ceremony and the wedding break fast nothing is divulged from first-hand observation. Impressions by “H. V.. M.” in the Sunday Express are amusing. “Here we are,” he writes, “the foreign correspondents, the special correspondents, the very special correspondents, the late war correspondents, the photographers, and kinema men of England, America, France. Germany. Holland, Belgium, Australia, and New Zealand. We are crowded into the two small hotels: we ooze out of the two cdfe restaurants; we overflow from private liotises. The noise of our typewriters keeps Doom awake. Birds think that spring has come, and have started to lay eggs. If you paraded us in the village square you could honestly say that you surveyed the men who command the ears of the- whole world. As we chat together i.n the evening it is clear that each one of us has interviewed Prime Ministers, has help to make and break Governments, and not a few are quite used to slapping kings on the back, while, as for Presidents —pooh ! But, for the first time in pur lives, we cannot deliver the goods. The ex-Kaiser is being married by the secret service.

“Wilhelm, is not a poor, hunted exile in Holland. He is lord of Doom. Ho runs the place. His minions infest the village. They occupy many of the houses. The square mile or so of park and woodland in which Doorn Castle stands- is a patch of pre-war Potsdam, and not one degree underproof .either 1 Iron fencing strong enough to Withstand a military assault rings his domain. At every gate stand armed Dutch police guards. On the German side of the fence the old-time sabre rattling is going on. Germans in green uniforms march beneath the trees with rifles slung across their shoulders and revolvers in their holsters. Men in plain clothes frequent the cafes and wander about the village. They are the ex-Kaiser’s secret service agents, with headquarters in the imposing gatehouse of the castle. It is established beyond doubt that everything that happens in Doorn is known here within an hour. “The result of this secrecy is that the world’s press wanders aimlessly about Doorn, spending hours peeping through the ring fence and trying to pump the Dutch guard.. There is a fortune waiting here for anyone who would take a bribe, for, when the international news machine is thwarted, it loses all sense of moral values. All roads, however, end in the village square: “Any news?’ ‘No.’ American correspondents just say ‘Hell!”!.

GLIMPSE OF THE BRIDEGROOM. “The bridegroojn has risen early,” writes another correspondent, “and I have the good luck to watch him through the barbed wire taking his morning walk in the castle? grounds. He does not look like either the dethroned exile he really is or the emperorking he pretends to be. Rather is lie like a jovial, not much more than middle-aged, sportsman. He is dressed in a brown lounge suit, with a grey fur jacket and soft felt hat, cocked jauntily to one side. He is stepping briskly beside the chaplain and another intimate. He has probably just made a few suggestions for the sermon and turned the talk on religious subjects. Our glimpse of the bridegroom is interrupted by an officious gendarme, who approaches the group and calls the ex-Kaiser’s attention to the kinema operators busy filming him through the bushes, whereupon he turns on his heel and quickly disappears.” CHAPLAIN’S ADDRESS. We are told that these are the words of the Court Chaplain when he had consecrated the civil marriage: “The glorious day and the solepm hour have arrived when your Imperial Majesty and Serene Princess join hands for life. May the whole life of you, the Royal bridal lair, be illuminated by the inspired words of St. Paul—‘Now abideth Faith, Hope, Charity, but the greatest of these is charity.’ Those words are from the text which was chosen for the golden wedding of the grey-haired Emperor Wilhelm the First, and also for your Majesty’s own silver wedding. Now, agrin, the three angels of Faith, Hope, and Charity have come to bless the house of Hohenzollem. This mansion will soon be left by your Serene Highness’s family and other guests, but you yourself will remain here from this hour, one in heart and soul with his Majesty. His Majesty links his life with yours. You, Princess, surrender fatherland and friendship, and are making heavy sacrifices. Faith is the basis of married life. Many seek it. but it is conceded only to those who form one before God. And God pervades this household. Every morning prayers, every Sunday Divine service. Mope—hope linked with faith—it is that which has supported vour Majesty when innumerable others would have sunk deep in despair. Love is the royal daughter of faith and hope. It is that love which recalls to your Serene Highness the memory of your prematurely deceased husband, and to your Majesty thoughts < f our dead Empress. Her tomb is the centre of a pilgrimage of love of the people, for she was the great ideal of German womanhood. And charity—it is that which armours your Majesty against calumny, and gives you victory over slander.” A SPIRIT OF LEVITY. The day was bright at first, but later became rainy and cloudy. Several hundreds of spectators gathered near the castle lodge, including many film operators, photographers, and reporters. Many of the villagers kept aloof, objecting to a marriage on the Sunday. Horse and foot police were nearly all within the gates of the castle, so that the curious were not kept at a distance. There was a spirit of ' levity among the people assembled outside, who seemed to regard the whole affair much as they would a fancy dress ball. Many joined in the English chorus, “Mary.: had some marmalade, Mary had some jam,” during the arrival of the latest guests, keeping up their spirits with jokes and laughter. Prince Eitel Fritz and General von der Goltz arrived in motor cars at 11.30. Count van Lunden, Governor of the Province of Utrecht, and Mr Kan., Secretary-general to the Dutch Government, walked to the castle. The Burgomaster-Baron Sehimmel- • penninek, assisted by one clerk, officiated at the civil marriage, The hall of the castle lodge was decorated with paintings of William 11, his father, and grandfather, all in full-dress uniforms, and paintings of famous battles. The ex-Crown Prince wore the uniform of his old regiment, the Death’s Head Hussars, with his high fur cap decorated with silver skull and cross-bones. General van der Goltz, Prince Eitel Fritz, and other generals all wore the uniforms of their respective regiments. The exKaiser wore the field-grey uniform ;of the Imperial Guards. The bride was in a robe of mauve velour. She wore white furs, and was adorned with diamonds and other jewels. At 12.10 first the Burgomaster, and then the ex-Crown Prince and Prince Eitel Fritz returned to the castle, the latter replacing his helmet with a field cap when entering the motor Vcar. Then the exKaiser, with his spouse; took theirs places in a car with drawfi curtains, and were driven to the castle. The people . outside on seeing him indulged in loud jeers. The wedding breakfast followed, consisting of a simple repast of soup, salmon, pheasant, and cold ham. The table was decorated with red roses, among the ornaments being a silver centrepiece engraved. “Wilhelm Imperafor Rex,” and a statue of St. George. On the table linen was wcven the German Imperial Eagle. The party included Count von Bentinck of Amerongen (the former host of the exKaiser), Count von Moltke, and Princess Henriette. the bride’s daughter. Prince Henry said a few words in honour of the occasion. The last item of the wedding programme drafted by the ex-Kaiser and typed in the castle reads: “2.30 p.m.: Their Majesties’ guests will depart.” WILHELM’S DAILY ROUTINE. “Unless the honeymoon disturbs his routine,” writes the correspondent of the Daily Chronicle, “The Emperor of Castle Doorn will tell his bride to-morrow morning the latest returns from the publishers’ sales of his memoirs. This is a matter which interests him' deeply every day. Rising always at 7 o’clock, lie first of all ‘inspects’ the weather, for meteorology is Wilhalm’s most recent enthusiasm. He corresponds regularly with a leading Berlin professor, and sends daily to Berlin his own observations at Doom. After a sharp walk in the grounds he breakfasts frugally, assembles the household for prayers, and then reads lots of newspapers—English with special attention. After lunch he indulges in forty winks, and fills in the rest of the afternoon with another stroll, or doing his chore at wood-chopping. A hot bath at 7 is part of the daily routine preceding dinner. For dinner lie invariably dons the field uniform, which he was wearing at Spa when events compelled him to leave his army and Fatherland for ever. In the evening any guests who may be at the castle have to listen to him reading extracts from his own diaries or hear his views on theology and literature. “And Wilhelm must always have an audience. Before even the honeymoon weeks have passed Princess Hermine will probably discover that that is one of the penalties attached to sharing the throne of ‘the Empire of Castle Doorn.’ ”