AN EXILED KING

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 1, 2 January 1932, Page 17

AN EXILED KING

RECENT EVENTS IN SPAIN

King Alfonso is one of the most outstanding figures now alive, in contemporary history, in sport, and in social life. Ho is much beloved and equally disliked, as recent events in Spain have proved. "Don Alfonso XIII. —A Study of Monarchy," written by a near relation, H.E.H. Princess Pilar of Bavaria, in collaboration with Major DeS' mond Chapman-Huston, shows the exKing as he really is, in public and in private life; it shows what his aims are, and how he has tried to carry them out; and explains the present difficulties in Spain and tho collapse of the monarchy. The authors, in writing this book, have had privileges and sources of information which have been given to no one else, and they have had personal experience of the revolution. It is, therefore, essentially an authoritative work, as well as being immensely interesting both from the historic and the human points of view.

In an introduction, Aubrey V. G. Bell writes:—"To those who would have the materials to enable them to distinguish between true and false democracy a well-informed account of Spain during the last fifty years is of great importance. "The authors of this book from their personal knowledge (Major Chapman-Huston was in Madrid during, and for some months before, the Revolution, and was received many times by the King at the Palacio do Oriente) have written a vivid and exact narrativo which is profoundly moving in itself and contains valuable material for the future historian.

"In the bewildering succession of events of which Major ChapmanHuston was thus an eye-witness, he showed not only an artistic power of concentrating unerringly on dramatic incidents and significant detail, but a sympathetic insight into Spanish character and the aims and ideals of tho real Spain such, as it ■is given to few foreigners to possess. Tho Princess Pilar, Don Alfonso's first cousin, has intimate memories of the King and his family, dating back to the end of tho nineteenth century. Her knowledge of the Spanish Court and its ceremonies and of the life and character of the King' and the Eoyal family may be said to bo unique, her quick eye and keen sense of humour having enabled her to make the most of her unrivalled opportunities.

"The King is seen here not against a background of empty anecdote, but as part of the history of his time. The writers have faithfully drawn the picture of a great Spaniard, a truly representative man (representative, "that is, of the true Spain), who will always be numbered among the greater Kings of Spain. His very mistakes have been generous mistakes, worthy of a great people and a great king. By an apparent paradox, a paradox which is bocoming too frequent in the twentieth century, his reign ended in failure because it was' a triumphant success." The volume is illustrated with 2-1 plates, the publisher being John Murray.