IMPERIAL FOOLS & ROGUES

Waikato Times, Volume 88, Issue 13488, 19 May 1917, Page 4 (Supplement)

IMPERIAL FOOLS & ROGUES

PRUSSIAN' ROYALTIES AS SPIES IN ENGLAND. German spies have a great, fascination for English people. They are credited with all the cunning, astuteness-, and ability in the world. That the German Government, had before tin* war a most extensive system of sines in England, and that it poured "out money like, water to obtain information, is undoubted, but how far the returns justified the expenditure only our own criminal investigators and' secret' service people really know. There wcro certainly many Germans who had their doubts about the value of the system; and Mi.-s Edith Keen, in her account ol her seven years at tho Prussian Court. toil- us that among others Prince Leopold of Havaria "had a great contempt lor Germany's elaborate secret service system." "Confined within narrower limits, " said the Prince, "the secret service would bo more, effective. We have s ;me first-rate men in it; but wo have a whole crowd of fools or roL'ues, and they can bo relied on to do nothing bur mis. lead us." DISGUISED PRINCESS. Among the fools of the service must certainly rank .some of tie- Prussian Imperial Highnesses who'graciously c aidoscended to visit England incognito. One of them was Princess Leopold ot Prussia, sister-in-law of tic Kaiser, who came over to England every year for a month under the disguise of Mis Shereustein. She made the most- elaborate efforts to preserve her incognito: "There was one plan thai the Princess Leopold always adopted when slitwas staying anywhere in England outside London. None of her letters to Germany wore ever posted from the place at which sho was staying; they v/:tc taken to the nearest town by a servant, where they were posted. 'This often led to inquiries on tin part of'the curious. The posting of. say, twenty or thirty letters to different, fraus, frauleins, and countesses witli German titles aroused t»ome attention and curiosity in a local post office, whero only a. small number of letters are handled daily, and the Princess' servant was watched and questioned as to who his mistress was." The year before war broke out Miss Keen tells us that there was a great gathering of German revalues in England:—

"For the first time for over iwonty. five years the Prince Leopold came, in thin year to England with Ins wife. Tho Prince went to stay somen here in Clifton, the Princess remaining in London, afterwards going to Littlchampton.

"In addition to the Leopolds, there were simultaneously in England that year, Prince and Princess August Wilheltn, the Prince Eitel Fritz, a son of tht Kaiser, and Prince Friodrlch, a son of the Leopolds.

"There is nnt the least doubt in my mind that, this gathering was planned by the Kaiser, and was the result "I deliberations between him and the military governor of Potsdam, the gentleman who wa« mainly responsible for tin direction ol the activities of the Kaiser's agents in various parts of tho world, and' different members of the royal family. These royalties were in constant communication with their Herman friends in England. It- was then practically regarded as en-tain in Germany that there would be war between Germany ami Franco before long. Part

almost, every day from the governor of Potsdam, and daily telegrams were also sent to Prince August Wilhehn and Prince. Eitel Fritz. "A German officer in Potsdam told me that in the three or four weeks during wlnch these German royalties were in England they computed work that the Kaiser's agents had been carrying on in this country for years."'. SINISTER CONCLAVES. Meetings were held all over the country, of which the following is typical:— "In connection' with this royal gathering in England J heard a curious sto* concerning a well-known and wealthy German who had been resident in England' for many years. Prince Eitel Frit/, became this gentleman's guest, ami stayed with him for about a week. There worn a number of other ; Germans resident in England, who were I also there to meet the Prince.

"Every morning tlu whole party met together in their host's spacious library lor a couple of hours, and during that time tlie strictest ])recautions were taken to see that there woiv no eavesdroppers near the. room. The secretary t,> the Prince'* host kept watch in tin'corridor otitsidV th; library, and two trusted servants wet\« on guard in the gardens by the windows of the room. The activities of the Crown Prince in this pretty gang of imperial "fools and rogues'' are shown by the incident that Miss Keen tells about hie visit to England the year King Edward died:— •"They spent the greater part of their time looking at country houses to be let or sold within about a forty-mile ratlins' of London. A member of* thr-ir suite told me that the Crown Prince took back to Berlin a list of about thirty-two country residences near Louden which were to be lit. or sold, with full particulars not onl\ of those properties but < f tin- surrounding district. "The Prince may have been on the look-out for a, residence, in a quiet neighborhood, which ho might have been thinking of during his occasional incognito visits to England. Or it is just, possible the rosiclences were required for use by some people in the fiernian secret services 1 cannot say, I heard afterwards, however, that two of tho residences looked at. by the Prince were afterwards, tenanted by Germans." "PLANTED" AGENTS. Tho Daily Express has before now exposed _ the way the Kaiser planted his spie-s in England when he came over on friendly visits to the British Court. \lias Keen says of this: — "I heard that, whenever tho Emperor paid a. visit to the English Court or went to stay in England as a private guest, one or two of his servants always remained behind and settled down in England, going either into business here or into service. "From what 1 heard 1 think this must have been done at the Kaiser's suggestion, and that some of these servants wero in the German secret service.''

Certainly tho activities of the royal spies "were not. spontaneous or undirected.' for Miss Keen tells in that .'after the gathering of German royalties' in England in 1013 the Kaiser stayed with the Chancellor f< r a couple of day.-', and among the guests askedto meet the Rmperor on that occasion were Admiral von Tirpitz, Count Zeppelin, and General von Hindenburg." Miss Keen's survey of Prussian Court liie extends over seven year-. It is written without noticeable bins, and indeed she is scruoul'msly fair to Mime of the Gorman ladies, Hk, Princes MarEnroth", who were extrcme'v kind to her. It is one of the nvst r.-ad-ib 1 - a - 'd least scandalous clironic'cs of biirh life tint have been published in recent years.