Queen Victoria And The Ex-Kaiser’s Dislike Of England

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18757, 13 July 1935, Page 9

Queen Victoria And The Ex-Kaiser’s Dislike Of England

MR - T. F. BENSON’S life of King Edward NT I was eulogised as a frank lint yet balanced study of the late King, and his now' volume, "Queen Victoria,” tells of Lie Queen whom, it is stated on the cover, ‘‘had unrivalled .common sense and a will ol iron.” That "will 1 of iron,” it is true, often caused more trouble -than her "common sense,” but as the t'ears pass Queen Victoria's character aticr achievements stand out us more and more, worthy. -. Mr Benson devotes considerable ■space to tho Queen’s relations with ex-Kaiser William,, for she strongly resented his .treatment of his mother, the Empress Frederick, her daughter, arid for a time refused to see him. Ihe quarrel was patched up, however, and Mr .Benson writes: — "Then down she. went to Osborne, and the family collected in lorce, 'and in some anxiety, for Ilie coining of William. i v.l.'.V' . • "Bygones were bygQnes, and almost feverish symptoms -of family affection took their' 1 place. The Prince of Males went out in the Osborne to meet rho Imperial yacht, Hol'ienzdllcrn, and they steamed side by side through tiio great avenue of British ships assembled for the naval review. "The Kaiser was in the uniform of Nelson, which had caused him such giddiness, and in order to show that Germany also could "-do something on the son, he had no less than 11’ German ship's . of- war as ■ his escort. He was most respectful and affectionate to his grandmother; lie breakfasted with her every morning, and dined on five nights out of six evenings of his visit, and they buried the past trader show of distinctions. lie conferred on her the office of Coloncl-in-Chicf of the Oardo-Dragoncr, and site duly worn the regimental colours on iter shoulder, and he gave her a marble bust ol himself in a helmet, and for Prince George of'Wales there was the Order of the Black Eagle.

The Ex-Kaiser Told the Captains

,“In turn the Queen infested his brother, Prinec Henry, .with the Garter, and gave Count Herbert Bismnreli ,‘n beautiful box,’ and sent his father a copy of Von Angcli’s portrait .of herself. But the bulk of entertainment fell on the Prince; lie took his nephew to dine at rhe Royal Yacht Club and made him a member (which he. lived bitterly to regret); he went daily; ivith him .to. the- regatta; ho. escorted him on a pro_- ' longed inspection of the British Fleet, and listened tci the- Kaiser- instructing captains and’ admirals about naval guns.-Thar -.seemed to have finished him'off; he could stand no more, and ri'bad'knee prevented him, from accompanying Die Kaiser to a military', review at Aldershot.'' ~Some time , later during the war in the -.Transvaal .the. ex-Kaiser agqin. and again meddled i;i British affairs to, thb-annoyance of King Edward, then Briftee- of Wales. Mr Benson says of the px-Kd'iscr:— "*llO wrote a fresh .batch of .‘Kotos on; the .Transvaal .War,' and sent them to his uncle. It comprised 22 headings, and the gist of it was that England would require a long ‘respite’ before she could hope to have Sufficient forces in the field to bring the war to a successful conclusion, and that during that ‘respite’ some guarantee wrfs essential that foreign Powers should not threaten.her security. if that could not. be obtained, it was far wiser for her to make some sort of settlement with the Boers at once. ‘•The nature of that' settlement wansufficiently indicated by the concluding paragraph: ‘Even the best football club, if it is beaten, notwithstanding the most gallant defence, accepts .finally its defeat with oqunnimitv. Last year in the great cricket match of England v. Australia the former took the victory of the latter quietly with chivalrous acknowledgment of her opponent . . “The Prince of Wales sent a translation of tliis memorandum to his mother, calling attention to the threat it contained, and in his answer to it alluded to the presence of Dr Loyds at Berlin, and pointed out that a cricket match against Australia v.as not the'same thing as fighting for rue integrity of the British Empire. ” The ex-Kaiser’s dislike ot England is proved 'again and again by a succession of provocative incidents, and Hr Benson’s life of Queen Victoria is not merely biography but' lilts the veil from many dark phases of European history. The reader of Mr Benson’s book will be, incline*:-- 1o think more than ever that the Great Bar was inevitable for the. ex-Kaiser was determined to be a War Lord. The well-know-jt 'Father Healy went to a Dublin barber one morning ■'for a shave; the -mail’s hand- .'Shook rather biullv, and he slightly grazed Father lleaiv’s cheek. The, priest, with a grave glance at the .barber’s shaking hand, shook his head . ami murmured: “Whisky, whisky, whisky.” k • “Av, vour -Reverence,” assented the barber, “it does make the fled) very tend her. ”