Children Who Will Be Kings.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIV, Issue 21, 25 May 1910, Page 33

Children Who Will Be Kings.

By

J. R. BAYLEY.

Some day, barring death and improbable changes in foim of government, to most of the children pictured here the pomp and circumstance of power will be as familiar as are their present playthings. Some will inherit thrones that are little more than a name and others thrones whose glories have departed; but some of them will be elevated to dizzy heights of power, with a hundred million subjects. Let they are to-day wholly concerned with the affairs of childhood, and, oblivious of destinies which few of them would be envied, and the hopes and fears of parents and people, they employ the days in childish unconcern for the monow; for a child is first of all a child though he may be a king.

G y r FEW months ago the diminutive / I Emperor Pu-Yi of China, ruler F I of a population estimated at four hundred millions, despatched to St. Petersburg from Pekin a special embassy, headed by one of the princes of the Royal Family, for the purpose of conveying a wonderful collection of costly Chinese toys to Czarevitch Alexis, aged nearly five. In addition to the toys there were two dwarf elephants, marvellously trained, for the use of the future ruler of Russia in riding about the palace grounds at Peterhof and Tsarskoe-Selo. This mission was sent by way of acknowledgment of the special embassy which had come to Pekin from St. Petersburg some time previously, bringing to the boy emperor a £12,000 •toy railroad and a number of other elaborate and ingenious toys. This single exchange of gifts is sufficient to emphasise the consideration given to children who happen to embody in their little selves the essence of royalty and to have resting upon them the fate of empires and kingdoms and the destinies of hundreds of millions of human beings. No one will ever know how much the small inmates of the Royal nursery at the Quirinal have contributed to popularise the dynasty of Savoy. Scarcely a week passes without some amusing stories being published of the quaint sayings and doings of the Royal children—■ stories of a nature to touch a responsive chord of sympathy in the breast of even the sternest republican, especially if he happens to have children of his own. In fact, “Mafalda’s latest” is a favourite topic of conversation with all classes of the population, and besides furnishing no

end of entertainment serves to impress the people of Italy with the very human side of Royalty and with the fact that the children of King Victor Emmanuel and Queen Helen are, after all, very little different from their own little ones. Thus, one day not long after the great earthquake at Messina last spring, U.S. Ambassador and Mrs. Griseome were received at the Quirinal for the purpose of talking over the huts that were being erected in the vicinity of the ill-fated city for the victims of the cataclysm. At a certain point of the discussion, Queen Helen remarked, “Wait a minute; I want to show you the plans of my new village,” and instead of catling them to be brought, she, with that simplicity of manner which is one of her most attractive qualities, hurried off to fetch them herself. She

returned after a few moments, very much Hushed, her hair somewhat disarranged, and laughing, explaining that when her children had heard her coming they put a chair across the threshold of the door where she would enter, just for the fun of seeing her fall over it, “and of course 1 did,” she added, “much to the delight of the little sinners.” Although the most popular portrait of the crown prince of Italy represents him arrayed in the uniform of his father’s fine regiment of Royal Horse Guards, he has thus far no real military rank, differing in this respect from the Russian Czarevitch, who. despite his tender years, is colonel of half a dozen infantry regiments, of four regiments of dragoons, of a regiment of field artillery, and of the first regiment of railroad engineers, in addition to which he is hetman or general of all the Cossaek regiments. The only occasions on which he is called upon to don the uniform of his rank in these various corps are when receiving deputations of their officers, who come to present him with good wishes and with gifts on the occasion of his name day or on th«‘

anniversaries of historic events in the annals of the regiment. His ordinary costume is that of the English boy of the same age. Although he is much interested in soldiers, and loves to witness reviews and military pageants, he is happiest when yachting with his parents PRINCES LEOPOLD AND CHARLES. Sons of the Heir to the Belgian Throne.

The sons of King Ferdinand of Bulgaria may also be included in the category of pinafore colonels, for Crown Prince Boris was. at the age of four, not only colonel of Bulgarian regiments of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, but also of th? fifty-fourth regiment of Russian infantry; while his younger brother, Prince Cyril, became, when three years old, colonel of the twentieth regiment of

Bulgarian infantry and of the fiftyfourth regiment of Russian infantry. As for the King of Spain, who was a monarch from the moment of his birth, he enjoyed, by reason of his sovereigntv, the rank of general in the army and of admiral in the navy from the hour of his advent into the world. Until he attained his majority. on his sixteenth mrthday. however, his sensible mother never permit ted him to wear any uniforir. but that of the cadets of the military school of Toledo, which is very natty and simple, devoid of any gold embroidery and gold lace, and which suited him to perfection. Fortunately for the people of Russia, the small hetman of all tin* Cossacks has a very sensible, broad-minded mother, who was reared under the person.il direction of her grandmother, the late Queen Victoria. Otherwise the little fellow would stand in great danger of being completely spoiled, and of being transformed from a very sunny-tempered, jolly, mischief-loving, ami wholesome youngster into an intolerable little prig. For his sisters, all of them a little older than himself, allow themselves to be

and sisters along the picturesque coast of Finland, where he is able to see more of his father, whom he loves beyond all the other members of his family, than at any other time, and when the Czar is able to give himself up to the companionship of his wife ami children, without any tiresome interruptions by Ministers calling upon him to discuss and determine matters of state. The charm about the life of Nicholas and his immediate family during these yachting expeditions is its relative simplicity, and every now and again the Standard anchors in some secluded bay, the shores of which the Czar proceeds to explore in a small boat, with the empress and his |>oy seated in the stern sheets, while he and one of his daughters take the oars.

tyrannised by him in the most entertaining fashion, precisely as if h# were already Emperor of all the Russias, with autocratic power over the members of the entire house of Romanoff. His father also idealises Alexis, whose pranks and quips are enough to drive away all his anxieties and cares, and with whom he loves to play, sometimes in a manner calculated to upset all one’s notions of the solemn dignity of the consecrated ruler of the great Russian empire. Needless to add, all the statesmen, officials, ami dignitaries that have the opportunity of approaching the Czarevitch fawn upon him and overwhelm him with adulation, hoping by winning his goodwill to secure his father’s favour, with all that the latter involves in the shape of honours and distinctions. In fact, their attitude on such occasions calls to mind that wonderful picture of Fortuny, entitled "The Education of a Prince,” in which a diminutive heir-apparent, while rolling about on the Hoot, is surrounded by cardinals, generals, and statesmen, all endeavouring to attract the Royal child’s attention, or else demonstrating by their obsequious attitude, and by their rapt expression of admiration, the most ridiculously exaggerated interest in his infantile prattle and play. There is one other person besides the Czarina whom the Czarevitch obeys, and

who is always able to control the headstrong, romping, fun-loving youngster. He is a gigantic sailor, of the name of Stefan, now a petty officer of the Imperial yacht Standard, to whom Alexis was first attracted by his size anil good nature.

Ever since Alexis was two years old this sailor has been his inseparable companion, always in attendance upon him, watching over him practically by day and by night, and above all else the guardian of his safety and his shield against every con-

ceivable harm. This sailor, like many Russians of his class, has a wonderful fund of stories, which his Imperial charge is never tired of hearing. The Czarevitch associates the sailor in most of his games, and looks upon him as being, next to his father, far and away the most important personage of the Empire, always deferring to his advice, and yielding to his remonstrances. Indeed, in his prayers, morning and night, he invariably invokes a divine blessing on his bodyguard before praying for either his father or mother. But not even Stefan has been able to cure him of bringing his prayers to a elose with a loud "Hurrah!” and all remonstrances have been without avail. For he points out that' the soldiers on parade always greet his father with a hurrah, and that, after all, the Almighty is a more important personage than even his papa. Just one word as to the importance of this child’s life to the future of Russia. If he lives, there is every prospect of the liberal policy which Nicholas 11. has inaugurated being continued and developed in all directions. Should he die, and the Czar have no other male issue, it is practically certain that the next reign would be inaugurated with a most energetic endeavour on the part of the aristocracy, the army, the higher clergy, and, above all, by the vast and powerful

bureaucracy, to do away with every constitutional form of government and to reinaugurate autocracy in its most reactionary and oppressive form. The Czar realises this, for it was not until his boy’s birth and the prospects furnished there-

by of a continuance of his liberal regime, that he was able to get his orders obeyed. Up to that time the officials upon whom he was obliged to depend for the execution of his commands were afraid that by identifying themselves with a policy that might terminate at any moment with his sudden death they would incur the enmity of the prince following him r'pon the throne of Russia. Another prineelet upon whom the hopes and the affections of an entire nation are centred is little Prince Olaf of Norway, now just six, and one of the n ost amusing youngsters in the world. When Norway seceded from Sweden, to which it had been involuntarily united for nearly’ 100 years, the question arose

as to whether the new government should assume the form of a monarchy or of a republic. The Norwegians are intensely democratic, so much so that they have practically no titled class and no aristocracy. Those in favour of a republic were very numerous, and it was by only a narrow majority that Prince Charles of Denmark, married td Princess Maud, the favourite daughter of the late King Edward VII., was elected to lie King of Norway, under the title of Haakon VII. it was a question as to how’ the new’ monarch would be welcomed in Norway, since there were so many who had voted against him. But the little Crown Prince, whose Christian name was changed from Alexander to Olaf, immediately’ proceeded to win the hearts of his future subjects. When he landed with bis parents at Christiania he was not yet three years old. All wrapped in white furs, which set off his blue eyes and curly fair hair to advantage, he clambered down from the arms of his tall father, and while Hie latter was engaged in replying to an address of welcome from the authorities, the tiny’ prineelet toddled over to where a number of small school children had been grouped, and, grabbing a Norwegian flag from the hands of a boy of his own size, who did not relish the proceeding, he returned to his father’s side, waving it aloft in triumph, to the delight and enthusiasm of the people present. From that time forth little Prince Olaf became the principal object of interest to the Norwegian people, bis every prank and

every cute remark being duly chronicled. Deputations arrived from all over Norway to see the little chap, who was overwhelmed with gifts. At the coronation of his parents, it was he, and not the King or Queen, who was the hero of the national festival, and if the people are to-day completely’ reconciled to the

rule of “Mr King” and “Mrs Queen” — for that is the way in which the Norwegians address their rulers, declining to use the word “Majesty”—if they have become one and all loyal subjects of the Crown, it is mainly due to the popularity of little Olaf, who has completely won the hearts of the Norwegian people.

even of the most ultra-republicans. Already two rich Norwegians, in dying without issue, have bequeathed to him. after seeing him but two or three times, their entire landed property. He has not

one trace of affectation iii his composition, is on the most democratic terms of intimacy with the more youthful portion of his future subjects, and may be said to have been, according to his father’s

own admission, the principal factor in firmly establishing Haakon VII. and Queen Maud on the ancient throne of Norway.

Karely has the birth of a royal child been hailed with so much popular rejoicing as that of little Princess Juliana of the Netherlands last summer; for her appearance on the scene, after eight years of childless marriage of her parents, set at rest the grave fears entertained until then by the Dutch on the subject of their cherished national independence. Failing issue to the union of the Queen with Duke Henry of MecklenburgSchwerin, the throne of Holland would, by virtue of the established laws of succession, have gone to the German Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and in the event of his refusal of the erown, to the German Princes of Reuss. This would have inevitably led to the incorporation of the Netherlands in the German Customs Union, and ultimately to the addition of Holland, with her rich colonies, to the confederation of quasi-sovereign States known as the German Empire, with the consequent loss of her political and, above all, her economic independence. From a physical point of view, the little boys of Don Alfonso and Queen Ena. are splendid specimens of wholesome childhood, and bid fair to grow

up into men of superb physique. For their father, although he has inherited some of the delicateness of his Hapsburg and Bourbon ancestors, is nevertheless a fairly strong man, and, thanks to his estimable mother's careful training, in perfect condition of health, while his wife, Princess Ena, of Battenberg, comes, on her father's side, at least, of a race that is distinguished for its superb physique and manly beauty. Like his father before him at the same age, the young Prince of the Asturias, now two and a-half years old, already wears the simple uniform of a cadet of the military college of Toledo; and there emerges from between the topmost and second button of his tunic a bit of red ribbon, from which is suspended the miniature insignia of the historic Order of the Golden Fleece, of which he is quite the youngest knight. He has inherited the fair hair and the somewhat prominent blue eyes, as well as the chubbiness, of his mother; whereas his younger brother, Don Jaime, now sixteen months old, takes after his father, with the latter’s dark hair, dark eyes, rather prominent nose and chin, and Hapsburg lip. Moreover, like the King, he is constantly laughing—a merry little chap, in fact—whereas his elder brother is preternaturally grave. These two boys constitute

With Prince Gustav Adolf, aged three, and Prince Sigbahd, aged two. A, hold upon the goodwill of the people for the dynasty, for there is not a home in the peninsula, blessed with children, that is not imbued with feelings of thoroughly human sympathy for the little ones at the gloomy old palace at Madrid, and, in natural sequence, for the Royal youngsters’ youthful parents. It seems but the other day that everybody was criticising Emperor William on the ground of his youth. Youth is always handicapped by inexperience, and it was feared, not alone in Germany, but also in all foreign countries, that the two combined in the person of the present Kaiser, would involve Germany in war. Yet William 11. has been on the

throne for more than twenty years, and while he has endowed his country with one of the most powerful navies in existence, has enormously increased its terißorial area, ami has augmented more than tenfold its commercial importance, he lias yet to embark upon his tirst war, for the campaign in China, jointly with the other great Powers, for the relief of the foreign legations at Pekin, and the military operations, required for the suppression of the native insurrection in German West Africa, cannot be strictly regarded as full-fledged wars. To-day this ‘inexperienced youth,” who has “made good.” as the most modern, up-

to-date, and progressive sovereign of the age, is a grandfather, and his little grandsons the children of the Crown Prince, are every bit as much in the public eye as he was at their age. One of them is three another two. and tiie birth of a third was heralded a few months ago by the thornier of guns on 'the warships. The older ones are jolly little fellows, brimful of human nature, dressed and trained with all that Spartan simplicity for which the house of Hohenzollern is so famous in the rearing of its younger generations, and there is not a town, nor a village, in all the great Empire of Germany, nor yet in those

'l'liis little prince, a grand nephew of Carmen Sylva, is a mischievous lad. and was Indus* triously painting a column of the palace when the photograph was taken by his mother. Teuton settlements beyond the sea. where attractive pictures of these boys do not occupy a conspicuous position in the home. It in impossible to look upon these pictures, especially the snapshots. so entirely natural and free from pose and artifice, without being attracted t<> ’the little Princes. And that is why Emperor William finds In his fascinating little grandsons, to whom he is devoted, a fresh hold upon the loyalty and goodwill of his people.

King Leopold was perhaps, of all the reigning sovereigns of Europe, the most unpopular, both at home and abroad. Were his nephew like him, he would have forfeited his throne long before his death, by reason of his shocking misgovernment of the Congo, and the flagrant and shameless immoralities of his infamous private life. Fortunately, Prince Albert of Flanders, the new King, is a man of entirely different character who enjoys the respect and esteem of his future subjects, which he has won by the freedom of his private life from any subject of reproach, and by the popularity of his Bavarian consort and his children. The Queen is a daughter of that Duke Charles Theodore of Bavaria who has achieved international fame as an oculist, and is able to boast of having restored the sight to many thousands of his fellowcountrymen by means of operations, performed free of cost. Queen Elizabeth has inherited many of her father’s gifts and tastes, and she has a eouple of charming little boys, one eight and the other six, as well as a little girl, aged three, who are a source of unfailing interest to the Belgian people, and who furnish a eharming picture of home life in its best sense.

Queen Elizabeth’s sister is the consort of Prince Rupert of Bavaria, grandson of the octogenarian prince regent of Bavaria, and future king of that South German nationality. She has a couple of merry little youngsters, the eldest of whom is Prince Luitpold. In addition to being heir presumptive to the throne of Bavaria, he is also regarded by the Jacobites ami ultra-legitimists of England as the rightful heir to the throne of Great Britain, owing to the fact that his father, Prince Rupert, and the latter's mother, Princess Maria Theresa, are less remotely descended from the last Stuart king of England than is George V.

Indeed, the English Jacobites always refer to Princess .Maria Theresa as "Queen of England,” and to Prince Rupert as the "Prince of Wale’s.” Moreover, in their correspondence they always stamp their letters with a stamp bearing the clligy of the Ruling King, relieving their the stamp in question is not recognised by the International Postal Union, they are obliged to add another, bearing the effigy of Edward VII., relieving their feelings by pasting it head downward.

Then, too, there are the young children of the Crown Prince and Crown Princess of .Sweden, Prince Gustav Adolf, aged three, and Prince Sigbard, aged two, both of them already knights of the historic Order of the Seraphim, which ranks with the Garter in England and with the Golden Fleece in Spain and Austria. Their mother is Princess Margaret of Connaught, and her presence at the court of Stockholm has contributed in no •small measure to influence the people of the land of her adoption toward England. Prince Nicholas of Roumania, aged six', a most mischievous, comely, fair haired youngster, and his elder brother, now 16, as well as his two sisters, are barred from the succession to the throne of Great Britain, although they are greatgrandchild ren of the late Queen Victoria; for their mother, the lovely Princess Marie of England and of Coburg, forfeited her rights in connection with the English crown when she married a Roman Catholic, in the person of Ferdinand of Ilohenzollern. Crown Prince of Roumania. She was the first member of the reigning family of England to wed a member of the Church of Rome since the Act of Settlement, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, which forbade unions of the princes and princesses of Great Britain with Papists, under the. penalty of losing all rights of succession to the crown of England.