MAD KING OTTO.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1624, 16 December 1912, Page 7

MAD KING OTTO.

I DEPOSITION FAVOURED. ! By Talesrraph—Preas Association—Oopyrlsrht Borlin, December 13. The Bavarian Cabinet, press, and public favour the proclaiming of tho new Regent as Ludwig 11, on account of tho incurablcness of King Otto, who has now been mad for over forty years. MONARCH'S SAD STORY. LIFE IN THE PALACE PRISON. Under no eano king- has Bavaria so flourished, declared a recent writer, as under mad King Otto. Yet Otto's grateful subjects never see- him, except such of them as sally out of Munich for tho neighbouring palace-prison of Fuerstenricii, and spy over the unscaleable walls. They will tnen at best catch a glimpse of a restless, untidy,.flashy-faced old gentleman, brooding at a window, counting the hairs in his beard or reading a newspaper. . , If they had eagle eyes, they would notice that tho newspaper is upside down, or held sideways, or is even a white shirt which tho scholarly recluso is diligently reading. It is a painful spectacle. But it is all that remains of Otto I, who hns been niado since 1873, but, nevertheless, King over the second most important German State over since bis almost equally mad brother, Ludwig, killed himself in 18HG. King Otto occupies a big siute of rooms on the first floor v of the Fuerstenried palace, and there is quite as freo in hiu movements as is the average monarch. In practice that means that ho goes all over the palace, always in chargo of two attendants and one of ; his two resident doctors. Sometimes, but by no means every day, ho goes into the park, and stares listlessly at the statues and fountains. Sometimes he is violent, and always he flatly refuses to let himself be examined. Ho rises late, often after midday, and either spends all day in his bedroom or salon in semi-conscious apathy, or lets himself to be enticed into the park. In the park he usually brightens up, and sets keenly about his favourite occupation—searching for strawberries. AVinter and summer, spring and autumn for nearly forty years, he has sought industriously for strawberries, and never found one—except once. This was when his doctors, hoping that it would make him happier, planted strawberries by tho side of the park walks. The King tore up . the strawberries, looked at the roots quizzically, .and threw them away. Then he began seeking more. This strawberry-picking- mania has a pathetic origin. When he was about 21 and before his madness had assumed such a severe form as it did later, he fell deeply in love with a young countess. This love affair came to a sudden end at a picnic on the shores of the Tcgern'Sea, when Otto wandered away with his sweetheart, and spent the whole afternoon picking strawberries. His brother, Ludwig, then King, found them, and took Otto to task angrily, while he packed the girl off to her parents, with orders that she should bo placed in a convent. Sometimes Otto Bits on a bench in the park, and talks to birds, sings, and watches, clouds floating by on the wind. And then he begins to cry. The doctors watch anxiously, for these outbursts of crying, for they are nearly always followed by fits of terrible violence. These fits aro all tho harder to handle because of the unbreakable rule that under no circumstances is Otto to be treated other than as King of Bavaria. Violence is never met with violence, and even when the unfortunate King soundly belabours his attendants .they . refrain, .'by orders, 1 from'even trying to hold hisarms. Luck-; ilyj the King is never cunning or malicious, 'and until lately his manner even snowed feeblo signs of gratitude for services rendered. ! Otto recognises nobody to-day. In this respect his malady has steadily grown worse. .For two years after he became King,he was visited regularly by his .mother, Queen Marie, a born Princess of Prussia. ■ f: Jn, j lßß9, l he suddenly, ceased "to; -.re'eQ l gnise.''th,e.!Que«nt and o y'ea'f later stiiy died. .-" Long ". after that, however, Otto had occasional moments of lucidity. .-.Otto's physical health is-good, and he is a strong man for his 63 years. The more disease takes possession ' of. his brain, the more.it seems to'avoid his body. Probably tho King will outlive the heir, his cousin, Ludwig, who fi!mself is 65 years old. In any case. Prince Ludwig, a. professorial gentleman with, no kingly instincts, is expected to renounce, the throne., If so, the next Bavarian King will be Prince Ludwig's son, Ruppreclit, who was born in 18G9, and is marTied to a Duchess of Bavaria. Rupprecht's. father and grandfather are both noted for -their physical and mental soundness/:sc- it'.is likely there be a new Bavarian line, free fromthe taint of insanity. - ' ■