KAISER'S MATRIMONIAL DIPLOMACY

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2986, 25 January 1917, Page 3

KAISER'S MATRIMONIAL DIPLOMACY

g GERMAN CONNECTIONS WITH EUROPEAI THRONES • There are no courts these tragic days writes Mr. 1. Phayre in the "Scots mail," but only warring camps, wit] kings and princes rougniug it hi th< field with tUe rest. And a glance a all this clashing royalty reveals man; strange and dramatic situations. Thi Duchess of Albany, for instance, is om of ourselves, with a Civil List pension and a prominent place on relief socio ties, whilst her son, the Duke or Saxe Coburg, is fighting fiercely agaiust. ui as a staff officer of the Berlin Kriegs akademie! Bismarck was a great be liver in matrimonial alliance as t "source of German strength. It is r.-o torious he could never get on with thi Kaiser's English mother, who had n< passion for Deutschtum, and was, there fore, in constant collision with its do votees. To-day we see Teuton spouse! set upon European thrones, all tho waj from Stockholm to Sofia, where Ferdinand tho Coburger Hues ingloriouslj from the horrors of war. "What, car. you do," asked his disgusted Chief oi Staff; "with a man who shudders at tho sound of guns and will nevor gc near a hospital?" Now why do German Pipyalties pervade tho European Courts in this way! Firstly, because there are so many oi them; secondly, because cf the pushful policy behind the marriages they mate. Thus the Greek Crown Prin-je—ne who is now perplexed King "Tiuo," bombarded with warning telegrams from . Berlin, was long ago marked out as a husband for the Kaiser's favoLiite sister, Sophia. For several years ;-oung Constantino served as an officer ia the Second Foot Guards of Berlin. King Tlno to-day makes no secret of his leanings. "As a soldier," said he in one of his many interviews, "1 say frankly that I view with alarm the prospect of attacking Germany. Not because I happen to be the Kaiser's brother-in-law, but simply because Germany has proved herself all-powerful." I have hinted there are very many German Royalties. Do you realise that the aggressive empire contains four kingdoms, seven principalities, six grand duchies, and live duchies? The rulers of all these have large families. So the destiny of. Teuton princelings seems to bo to permeate foreign courts and form dynastic ties which it would be folly to ignore when reckoning the assets of, Deutschtum, or Germanism, which, we know to our cost is served with a patient devotion worthy of nobler' aims. With iar-seoing vision land unvarying success these royalties have invaded Europe's thrones. Take| Denmark. Here the male line died out' over half a century ago, when' Frederick VII died, and the great Powers proceeded to elect a new king. Of course, the crown fell to Germany's nominee—Prince Christian of Schleswig - Holstein - SonderburgGlucksburg. And the present ruler of Denmark married Princess Alexandrine of Mecklenburg. Queen Victoria of Sweden.was the Duko of Baden's eldest daughter. In a literal sense, this royal lady has been "in the wars." She was visiting her father in Karlsruhe when French ainmen bombed the city disastrously, and wrecked part of the hugo semicircular schloss, or castle, from whose spacious platz the streets of Baden's old capital radiate like the sticks of a fan... . ; Now as to Holland, so dearly coveted by the-Pan-German dreamers. The maiden Queen, Wilhelmina, needed a consort to share, the cares of State, and possible partners were canvassed hero and there. Once more the Germans won, the successful suitor being Prince Henry of MecklenburgSchwerin. However,. of. this marriage perhaps the less' said the bettor. No one pretends it has been a happy one, either from the Dutch people's standpoint' or that of .'their Queen — whose kindness to her Belgian neighbours, hy the way, will long be remembered, especially during the awful retreat from Antwerp. Even the Belgian Royal family is German on Jjot-h sides, but here is one conspicuous_ "failure," one broken link in the chain of Deutschtum, wrought so carefully and so' long ago., King Albert's" father was Philippe of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha; his mother, Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringon. And'the devoted Queen of the Belgians —that "wandering Queen" 1 of ' tho Flemish trenches, now housed in a lowly villa on the sands hy tho North Sea—was Elizabeth, daughter of the famous oculist, Duke Carl Theodor of Bavaria. She and her mother and sister helped the Royal surgeon in. his operations; and Princess' Elizabeth it was who turned into a hospital for the suffering poor her father's stately castle on lovely Tegernsee. • Little Luxembourg's "strategic" throne was duly marked by the German Emperor since war broko out. He put forward Prince Joachim, his last unmarried son, as a suitor for tho hand of the reigning Grand Duchess, Marie Adelaide. But that spirited young lady scouted the idea, even with imposing evidence of German power around her picturesque palace. For Prussia is just now in possession of that tiny State., The Luxembureers ignorethc fat Landsturm who guard the station and streets of their capital. They speak French, these people, and defy the Kaiser's legions as their beautiful girl-ruler defied tho' Kaiser himself and all his matrimonial scheming. 1 Tho Rumanian Queen was formerly Marie of Saxe-Coburg, and to Tsar Ferdjnand was given Princess Eleonore of Kostritz-Reuss. But the new and shortlived kingdom of Albania was surely tho most- glaring., case of German, "planting." Hero,the Kaiser put forward as candidate William of Wied— from which State also came the late Carmen Sylva, Queen of Rumania. And! as usual the ."All-Highest" bad his way. The comic opera Prince landed at Durazzo one May morning with his wife and children, and 6tayed at a shabby Dalmatian hotel, whilst his "palace 1 ' was being of'rubbish and rats! Prince AYilhelm's was a. short, reign, however. Albania was always a -welter of Moslem and Christian tribes, who love war.before any peace. Soon tho palace windows of tho new "Mprot" wero shattering to rifle shots, and tho alien ruler, togethor with his Princess' and their terrified children, had to bo rescued by an Italian warship I William of Wied recently joined the staff of the Austrian Koevess, 'and waited for the fall or evacuation of Durazso to resume his thorny Albanian "throne" I I need hardly refer agaiii to Groece, nor to the exchange of vaunting telegrams between "Willy" end his masterful sister, the Queen of the Hellenes. Even in , mighty Russia the Kaiser's cousin, a Princess of Hesse-Darmstadt, shares the Tsar's, throne. But German influeneo in tho opuliiht Russian court is now known for a crafty and mischievous force. That it had gained power—quite incredible power—Russia was to learn to her cost when war broke out. There was no resisting the German "mole," whoso world-wide burrowings extended literally from China to Peru. Of course, the Tsaritsahcrself is more Russian than tho Russians. Women are rarely "political creatures" in the Aristotelian sense, and readily adopt tho country of their consorts, as the much-loved Belgian Queen has done. "Qui nrend mari," says the I'Vm-li proverb, "proud sa patrio." But beyond all doubt Germany aimed at pacific penetration by means of theso European alliances, followed up by steady intrigue of an unobtrusive

kind. For which reason Sweden, say, is anything but pro-Ally. Deluded" Bulgaria was dragged into war by her pinchbeck Coburg Tsar-) who has immense properties both in Austria and Germany. Ferdinand has a superstitious reverence for tho Kaiser, and views with uneasy eyes his namesake of Rumania—who, by tho way, was a Hohenzollern Prince. And Quoon Amelia of Portugal is from the same branch.