MOTOR CAR TRAGEDY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 47, 13 July 1912, Page 1 (Supplement)

MOTOR CAR TRAGEDY

DEATH OF KING'S COUSIN. While on the way to the funeral of his uncle, the late King of Denmark, George George Wilhelm of Cumberland (cousin of King George and nephew of Queen Alexandra) was killed in a motor car accident, together with his court chamberlain, Hcrr von Gieve, but the chauffeur escaped. The Prince himself was at the steering wheel of the car, which was of 60-h p ami was travelling at a speed of 56 miles an hour. Three miles beyond the little German town of Friesack, the car, travelling on a hilly but wide and well-built road, ran into a patch freshly laid with macadam which had not yet been rolled. It skidded and sprang into a ditch and out again into the fringe of a wood bordering on the road. Tremendous leaps of the car flung the Prince from the steering wheel. The car, being wholly uncontrolled, spran« m a series of curves, 30yds further, and then plunged into the wood, collided with a poplar, tore up a young oak and two nrs, and then came to a standstill jambed fast between 'three firs. The Prince was flung forward on his face' against the bonnet of the engine and his breast against the steering-wheel. His skull and his ribs were broken. His court chamberlain, an old man, was also flun» forward with a fractured skull. °

The chauffeur himself, who was in the tonneau, realised the danger from the skid, but was powerless to do more than hold on and, prevent himself from being hurled out. He escaped with a crushed arm. The car was completely wrecked. A. gamekeper who heard the crash hurried up, and found the Prince lying dead across the steering-wheel, and Gieve on the ground close by, moaning. He died a few minutes later.

The bodies of the Prince and his chamberlain were laid out on biers in the village church at Nackel, villagers burning candles at the head and keeping death watch at the feet of the corpses. The Duke and Duchess of Cumberland, who were also on their way to Copenhagen, abandoned their journey at Dresden. The Duke immediately telegraphed to all the Sovereigns iexcept the Emperor William. The Duke of Cumberland is a great grandson of George 111., but it is chiefly as a claimant to the throne of Hanover—the territory of which was incorporated with Prussia after the war with Austria—that he is known to .England. His attitude caused his relations with the Kaiser to be strained.

Prince George William was a captain in the Austrian army. Owing to delicate health, he spent the last five winters in the Soudan hunting, mostly with Slatin Pasha. He was a passionate automobilist, and passed the 1910 motor car examination in Vienna with distinction. He was the first to send in his nomination for the international Alpine motor car contest, which i 9 being arranged by the Austrian Automobile Club next month.

All the German Princes learn some trade, and Prince George William was a turner, and while at work in a shed he injured his leg and had to undergo an operation. Since then he slightly limped. The Prince was very popular in Austria, because of his sweetness of character and his great affability. The body will be interred at Gmunden, the residence in Upper Austria of the Duke and Duchess of Cumberalnd.

The Duke's second son, Prince Ernest August, entered the Bavarian army in .1008, a step which led to rumors that the long-awaited conciliation between the houses of Hohenzollern and Guelph was imminent. These rumors, however, have as yet failed to materialise.