The Jolliest King On Any Throne.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVIII, Issue 11, 11 September 1912, Page 4

The Jolliest King On Any Throne.

The New King of Denmark.

X OTIHNG in the character of Denmark’s new King, Christian > 1 / supports the Shakespearean tra- / dition. There is no trace of Hamlet in him. lie is neither melancholy, nor hesitating, nor sick lied o’er with the pale east of thought. He is, instead, a jolly giant, with a propensity to slap the comrades of his youth upon the back. He is disposed to a somewhat uproarious optimism and loud laughter, lie seems free from the least suspicion that the times arc oitt of joint. He is the life and soul of any* company in which he happens to find himself. He is not even intellectual. The foundation of the character of the prince upon the throne of Denmark is vouched for in the “Independence Beige'’ of Brussels as unadorned simplicity, lie seems never to have had a mood in the poetical sense. His intimates are likehimhelf in being average people, and il hehas a motto it must be: “Away with all mystery ami romance.” He loves to roar a barrack-room ditty at the top of his powerful lungs with his former comrades of the guards, to whom he gives a. dinner every Christmas. His large, steel-blue eyes sparkle merrily. His vigorous appetite, his loud voice, his long legs and his propensity to skip up a flight of steps on the run suggests the manner of a boy rather than the sedateness of a man past forty. Be is, in short, the Paris “Figaro” thinks, quite the merriest monarch alive, full to the iinger-tipe with an exuberant vitality. He realises the contemporary European ideal of a “respectable king*’- the traditional “fast” king with ft mistress having gone completely out of fashion. This now Scandinavian sovereign enjoys the felicity of perfect health, the still greater felicity of a cheerfulness which bubbles up with a champagne cifervescence from the springs of that perfect health. Such is the view the Paris “Figaro” takes of a royalty in whom it beholds the spirit of youth bodied forth qnchantingly. 11 is is the open character, we read, and his the gay countenance. His, again, is the ringing and ready laugh- and his is the enchanting affability. What wonder that he enjoys a terrific popularity, that cheering crowds hail him on days of festival, that smiles greet bis appearance, smiles reflecting his own brightness and gaiety? For as some kings are great and others are good, this Danish King is gay. Ilis infancy, his adolescence, his ripening manhood and the period of his prime have all been passed in Copenhagen under the eyes of the people. They adore him. He is so essentially and irresistibly Danish in sentiments and ideas that make him the. living mirror of his people. From his early youth he received tin* most Danish of training. He joined the university body in bis teens and led the university body with a simplicity ami a spirit of comradeship that won him a worship he has never lost. Christian X. is distinguished among liis subjects by a, tallness that is too natural in aspect to seem awkward. It tits his robust health as appropriately as a trunk harmonises with an elephant. When h< served in the Royal Guard he tow ered in his plenitude of inches above tin* rest of that crack corps. At the period of the famous gatherings of sovereigns in tin* palace of Fredensborg, wc read in the “Figaro,” he was among the troops assembled on the quay to greet the arriving Czar. The Czar—not flic reigning sovereign of Russia—advanced along the files of the guard, bestowing upon each man a gold piece. Recognising his nephew, the potentate of Muscovy tried to pass him by with a Rmilr, but the gay Prince Christian extended his hand for the coin*. “This,” be cried, tossing it into the air and <*at<*hing it deftly, “is the first money JI ever earned.” Christian X. is so perfect a master of the arts of popularity, in the opinion or the Paris "Matin,” that he would have made an ideal demagog. He exploits unconsciously the most delightful manners —cordial, candid, open. He "affords all who come within the influence of his

personal eliarm the sensation of having for an intimate friend ii reigning sovereign of an ancient royal nouse. it is not that he unbends vulgarly, ror that he cheapens himself by indiscriminate familiarities. He feels an unforced and spontaneous interest in everyone ho meets, acquiring from sheer contact a sort of personal affection for people about him. Ilis interests are of the kind that must be shared. He does not cherish the precious in art after the fashion of the late King of Bavaria, lie collects no coins like the King of Italy. Like the simple George V., King Christian interests himself in aviation contests, in moving pictures, in newspapers, ilis tastes are those of the crowd, and they lead him to theatres, to sporting contests, ami even to celebrated trials in the courts, lie resembles his father in

a propensity to stroll alone through the streets, stick in hand, stopping now and then to gaze into shop windows or to exchange a word with an acquaintance. He is distinguishable from the average man at such moments oniy on account of his tallness. He will stand with the throng assembled about some street fakir, taking in with an amused smile every detail of the itinerant’s volubility and sometimes making a purchase. On one such occasion he was sent about his business with the rest of the erowd when a policeman objected to the blocking ot the thoroughfare by a peddler of mechanical toys. When in the fulness of time he had to give up liis membership in the guards, he begged leave to retain his rille. This boon, observes the French daily from which we extract the anecdote, was denied. The weapon belonged to the State. The comrades of the Prince opened a slibseriptioii at once. The rifle was purchased and presented to the heir to Denmark’s throne, who retorted with a dinner. The occasion was enlivened by a discussion of what must happen to certain royalties as a result of the spread of republicanism throughout Europe. The King of Sweden, all agreed, might earn his living as a playwright. The German

Emperor would succeed as a stage manager. “I,” observed the Danish Prince, “would emigrate to the United States and go into vaudeville.” The hilarity lie can diffuse by entering in this gay fashion into everyone’s mood was so delightful to the inhabitants of Jutland that they built him a palace when he was married. He had lived among them as a bachelor on terms of absolute equality, visiting the homes of the plainest people and drinking tea in social gatherings made up of sehool-teaehers, Socialists and impecunious poets, as well as military and civil functionaries. A reception at the chateau of Marselisborg, the Jutland seat of the Danish King, brings together all sorts and conditions of men and women with an intimacy unknown at other courts. If the Danish King can be said to ride a hobby, the circumstance is attributable to his amiable faith in the genius of the Danes in every field of human endeavour. Christian X., we read in oux‘ French contemporary, looks upon his realm as the true nursery of Scandinavian greatness. At any rate, his Majesty never fails to accord the royal support and countenance to native talent. His ambition is to make his palace an intellectual and artistic shrine and his capital a commercial one. The new King’s patronage of the drama accords well with his expressed conviction that it is an es-

sentially Danish art. Tins emphasis of the Danish note in Scandinavian life is based upon his Majesty’s well-known aversion to the European theory that his kingdom is but the tail to the Scandinavian kite. He chose his bride from the proud if not mighty court of Mecklenburg-Schwe-rin, which houses itself in a superb palace constructed upon the model of the chateaux of Blois and Chambord. All about this imposing seat extends a vast park adorned with stattics of famed dynastic heroes (the house of MecklenburgSchwerin is the most ancient in Europe), with grottoes like fairy haunts and many plashing fountains. In this paradise was reared that Princess Alexandra who is now Queen of Denmark. She is slender, graceful, what is even termed temperamental, much given to solitude and the expression of her varying moods in versilication. There are two boys, the oldest at present barely in his teens.