GERMAN VISITORS TO ENGLAND

Southland Times, Issue 23650, 27 October 1938, Page 7

GERMAN VISITORS TO ENGLAND

EX-SERVICEMEN AND ROYAL LEADER On the day that Mr Neville Chamberlain flew to Germany for his second talk with Herr Hitler there.arived in London 800 German ex-servicemen. Their leader was the Duke of SaxeCoburg and Gotha, who is one of the two surviving grandsons of Queen Victoria. The other is the former Kaiser. Another grandson was the late Prince Arthur of Connaught. Stocky and square faced, the Duke is a brother of Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone. The son of the Duke of Albany, he was educated at Eton 40 years ago, where the boys gave him a nickname of “Dirty-faced Albany.” When the Great War broke out he was faced with a dilemma, for his first cousins were King George V and the Kaiser. It was rather difficult for him to decide, but he joined the German Army. Thereupon his Garter banner was taken down from St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, and his name was removed from the roll of the Knights of the Garter. There is r.o record of him ever-returning his Garter insignia. With all solemnity the Duke, in 1918, abdicated his rights of succession to the British Throne, and his titles in the peerage of the United Kingdom were removed from the Roll of Peers, according to an Order-in-Council. The Duke did all he could for British prisoners in Germany, and there are many who speak well of his efforts for their welfare. He was quick to deny stories of ill-treatment of Germans in England. He brought over a number of German ex-servicemen two years ago and was well received. The Duke was the first of the German princes to join the Nazis openly.