TRAINING FOR RULERS

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20833, 17 June 1939, Page 24 (Supplement)

TRAINING FOR RULERS

WORK OF ENGLISH WOMEN EUROPEAN ROYAL HOUSES INFLUENCE UPON NATIONS 'Air Mail.—Special to Times.) LONDON. May 2. A young Englishwoman has in her care a four-years-ol*l boy who inn> one day be a dominating figure of tin Middle East, says the Daily Mail. sh» is Miss Dora Borland. She has bee. selected to superintend the upbringinof the baby King Feisal the Second o. Iraq, heir to King Ghazi, who w:. killed recently in a motor accident. Miss Borland is yet another of thos. quiet, unobtrusive Englishwomen who without corning into the limelight an* almost unknown to the general pub lie, have done so much to shape the early destinies of ruiers in all parts of the earth. Prince Michael of Rumania was looked after at Bucarest and Sinaia by an English governess—Miss E. St John. There has for many years been an English governess in the Rumanian royal palaces, it was a custom introduced by the late Queen Marie. SI; herself was mindful of the efTlcien training she had received at the ham. of her own governess, Mrs Agm Tucker. The Czar’s Children Mrs Tucker was ft remarkable w«» man who spent her long life in th» service of royal households. She \vagoverness to the late Czar's childrei at one time. She died only thre years ago at Bratton Fleming, n Devon, at the great age of 89.

Miss St. John had a most difficui task in the tense atmosphere of Hu manian politics when Prince Micha< was boy king, in the absence of Kin Carol in exile. It needed courage remain in the service of the ro;- ; house in those times of unrest. Miss St. John, however, taught Ip young charge perfect English, an* gave him a knowledge of the Britis outlook on life. When Prince Michael accompanist his father on the recent State visit I • had a thought for his former nur*and telephoned her from Buckingha-i Palace. Miss St. John now lives a the Mildmay Memorial Hospital ii Newington Green Hoad, N. Other problems were presented ! Ihe English nurse who supervised th education of Princess Juliana of Holland in her nursery days. The Dutch Court has always been bound by the strictest etiquette, and it was Miss Cohen Stuart's task to fulfil all the demands of cerpmony without destroying a sense of proportion and humour in the mind of her young pupil. She taught little Juliana on the principle of the great Dutch educationist Jan Lighthart, making the Princess sit in class with other girls «*f her own age and from all ranks of society. But she was never permitted to mention religion. That was reserved exclusively for the Princess’ mother, Queen Wilhelmina. Task in Yugoslavia

The first nurse of the boy King of Yugoslavia was Miss Sylvia Crowther, who comes from Bradford. She had charge of the three sons of King Alexander —Prince Peter, now King, Prince Tomislav and Prince Andrew. It fell to her to break the news of the murder of their father to the two younger boys. All the ex-Kaiser’s many children were brought up with English governesses. His youngest son and daughter were taught by a very famous royal governess—Miss Ethel Howard, the daughter of a barrister of the Inner Temple. She was in the nurseries at Potsdam from 1895 to 1898. She had to leave Germany for reasons of health, and, looking for a warmer climate, entered into the service of the Japanese Royal Family. It was the first time a foreign governess had been admitted to the palace of the Emperor to educate his children. But Miss Howard gave instruction to the present Emperor and his younger brother, well known in this country as Prince Chichibu. Miss Howard retired to marry Mr H. Bell, of the Indian Civil Service. Queen Ena of Spain employed English governesses for her many children. The late Count of Covadonga, who, as Prince of the Asturias, was once heir io the Spanish throne (he was killed in a motor accident in Florida recently), never tired of talking of the English nurse who first taught him English. “ She Was Very Severe " “ She was very severe with Jimmie (the Infante Jaime) and me,’’ he used to say. “ I was often so frightened of not knowing my lessons, I used to find myself repeating them to my Shetland pony as I was riding about the grounds of the palace, and the gardeners must have thought here was another crazy Bourbon.” Miss Ethel Smith, a nurse who was trained at Tunbridge Wells, looked after the two sons of Princess Olga and her husband, the Prince Regent of Jugoslavia. Princes Alexander and Nicholas. She lived in Belgrade for four years. It was at the lake of Boh in j that she was first presented to Princess Marina of Greece just before she became engaged to the Duke of Kent. When Prince Edward was born. Miss Smith came from Belgrade to look after him. She fc* a trusted servant of the household—a rather frail-look-ing woman, always quietly dressed, who is a mode] of efficiency and the soul of discretion. And there is an English nurse who Is given military honours. One must co as far as Hyderabad to find her. She is Miss Elinor Lamb,' a young girl from Wark worth, Northumberland. She has in her care Walashan Prince Mukkaram Bahadur, the five-years-old son of the Prince of Berar. As grandson of the great Maharajah of Hyderabad, this child will one day he the richest man in the world and inherit the distinction of “ The faithful ally of the British Raj,” awarded to his ancestors for their loyalty at the time of the Indian Mutiny. Here indeed is a departure from agelong tradition, for until recently no Prince of the ruling house had ever left India. No foreigner was permitted to enter the inner sanctums of the royal palaces. But the Prince and Princess of Berar have more modern ideas. They have travelled Europe. They insist that their little son should have a Western education.