A GERMAN PRINCESS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1162, 24 June 1911, Page 11

A GERMAN PRINCESS.

Recently London made the acquaintance for (he iirst time of the Kaiser's only daughter, the Hoheuzollern Princess lioyal, Victoria Luise of Prussia, who arrived there with Iter parents to participate in the unveiling of the Queen Viclora McniHri.il, says an English writer. fclio is a young woman of exceptional charm and the heiress of many of the qualities which have made her famous father one of (he most captivating of men- Tall, slender, and dainty of feature, Prince.-s Victoria Luise's dominant trails are simplicity, naturalness, and friendliness.

•Since the "little.Princess," as she has long been affectionately known in Germany, emerged from the "Backfisch" stage all <l became a full-Hedged young society woman public interest has been'concentrated on her to an unusual decree. Germans realise that it will not be long, according to the law of average in the mathematics of love, before Princess Vicloria Luise will bo led to the altar. As the only daughter of the German Emperor, she is destined, in the Fatherlaud's estimation, to occuny nothing less exalted than the throne of'a queen! The Only Daughter. It is a Holieuzollern legend of longstanding that the dynasty should never possess at one time more than thirteen Jiving male members. Until the cud of the nineteenth century the number had never been exceeded, but the arrival of six splendid sous in succession,. as the result of Emperor William IPs marriage to Princess Angusto Victoria of Schles-wig-Holstein in ISSI, destroyed the tradition. The Princess was baptised "Victoria Luiso Adelheid Mathilde Charlotte," but is called "Victoria Luise"—Victoria after her mother, her grandmother Empress Frederick, and her great-grandmother, the immortal Queen Victoria of England; and Luiso after Prussia's greatest Queen, whom tho Kaiser is fond of describing as one of the most commanding figures in all German history and a "model" to all German women." As the only daughter in a galaxy of .soven children, Princess Victoria Luiso inevitably became the favourite both of her parents and her brothers. Early in life her education became tho object of most scrupulous personal attention r.t the hands of her mother.

The Empress is famed for her piety. Her Protestantism is rugged and.uncompromising, and her oniy dauprhter has been brought up in a corresponding environment. It is said that the Kaiserin has never once failed to attend Divine servico on Sunday, and under her-active auspices Berlin has witnessed the erection of more new churches during the present reign than in the whole of the half-century preceding.

How She Was Educated, Christian doctrine has, therefore, played a conspicuous role in the curriculum of Princess Victoria Luise, but her education has by no means been merely religious. Her teacher-companion since childhood has been a gifted young German noblewoman, Fraulein von Saldern, while she has received 'scientific instruction from a private tutor, Professor Dr. Porgcr. Her Royal Highness has learned English from an Englishwoman and French from a Frenchwoman. Music and painting, for which she has decided talent, have been taught her by master hands. Like all the children of the Kaiser, Princess Victoria Luise is imbued with an inborn lovo of sport and outdoor life. She is an ardent and accomplished horsewoman, and has ridden since she was six years old. As a little girl she rode cream-coloured ponies.presented to her by the ex-Sultan Abdul Hamid. Now she shares the ownership of a stable of thoroughbreds.with her mother, and her favourite mount.'is an elegant , and fiery black..- and . bay Hungarian. In her natty uniform of • honorary colonel of the Death's Head Hussars of Danzig, Princess Victoria Luise is a striking equestrian figure. Her outdoor hobbies include tennis, rowing, and yachting, and she is much addicted, like all the Hohenzollems, to dog-fancying. •

At Home With the Kaiser. The". Kaiser and Kaiserin have seen m'oro of thoir only daughter than of any of their sons, who have all been sent away to military schools and universities early in life. "Priuzesschon" has been a genuine companion to her parents, especially to her father, and it is notorious that her sway at Court has long been semi-autocratic. Nobody else, not even tho Chancellor of tho Empire, has had ' tho unrestricted entree to the Imperial presence, which for her has never been aught but her "Pnpachen," Tl;"- .Kaiser's happiest hours are said to be-spent in the homely surroundings of tho palace fireside, when the Kaiserin arid "Prinzosschen" are his only companions, and when ho is fond of reading aloud to them. Princess Victoria Luise was confirmed with much pomp in October, 1809, after several weeks of retirement, and in tho succeeding winter she was permitted for the first time lo enjoy the pleasures of society in the form of private dances. . Her formal debut did not take place until the winter of 1910,' since when she has enjoyed the unrestricted rank of a young society woman, with a lady-in-wait-ing, Countess Elisabeth von Ka'nitz, and a Court staff of her own. Her first important trip abroad was when slie accompanied her parents to the Court of tho Emperor Francis Joseph at Vienna this spring. Her visit to England is tho latest stage in her training as a full-fledged Princess.

THE CORONATION EXHIBITION. The Hobble Skirt is smart, but inconvenient, and at times dangerous. My model "Rational Skirts," as exhibited on the Stand at the left-hand entrance to tho Concert Hall, is undoubtedly "The Skirt" of the immediate future; combining the smart appearance of the "Hobble" and the freedom of the muchabused but "Rational Harem." W. Scott Bedford, "Upstairs Rooms." 43a Willis Street. «