THE PRINCE IN THE EAST

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXII, Issue 4349, 30 November 1921, Page 4

THE PRINCE IN THE EAST

At Barpda (the Prince of Wales has been seeing something of jthe gorgeousness of the East. In .the career, of the Gaekwar' of Baroda there is to found also, more than a touch of the romance that Asia prefers tp tjhe dull routine of Europe. The Gaekwar, who is ruler over two million people and in pre-war days had an income of £750,000 a year, was ndt born to the purple. He began life as the son of a Deccan peasant, who tilled a tiny agricultural holding. In 1875 the Gaekwar of tjhe day was mixed up in a terrible row, as he w,as supposed to have poisoned the British Resident at Baroda. He had just got oui of gaol himself, where he lhadi been wrongfully locked up by his brother, who had usurped the tihrone, but as he had not .the sense to behave properly the Viceroy deposed him after the poisoning incident, and allowed his brother’s widow to adopt an heir. She adopted the present Gaekwar, then twelve years old, as he had roya! blood in his veins, and took him away from his father’s humble farmhouse to be educated as a prince. The Gaekwar in giving the Prince of Wales a royal welcome is making amends for his behaviour to King George at the Delhi Durbar in 1911He was obliged to write a public letter of. apology for what he did then. He said in the letter it|hat he regretted his “seemingly indifferent manner’’ to Their Majesties. It was due, he declared, to his nervousness and confusion in the presence of so yas* an assemblage. He had failed to note exactly what the Nizam of Haidarabad did, and being the second prince to pay his respects had no opportunity of seeing the others. It was rather a lame excuse. There had previously been much comment on the Gaekwar’-s manners at the Coronation in London. Earlier in th? Durbar itself everyone had risen when the Viceroy arrived, and remained standing until His Excellency was seated. The Gaekwar, merely rose and sat down immediately, ostentatiously Stretching his legs and yawning. When the Nizam of Haidarabad paid his homage to the King he bowed deeply three times ana backed away. The Gaekwar Hollowed jauntily swinging a stick in his hand, a thing contrary to all Indian etiquette, gave one perfunctory bow to Their Majesties, and (then turned his back and walked ’.away, However, much water has flowed under London Bridge since then, the Gaekwar has given much in the war, and his behaviour to the King since his apology has been perfectly correct. Some years ago he rather surprised the world, which had regarded him as a very enlightened and Europeanised prince, by giving his daughter ia marriage to the Maharajah of Gwalior, who happened to - have another wife already. Bujt for ,the fact that he was a reigning prince, and the High Court ruled that he could not be cited, he would also have had to appear as c-iorspondent in a divorce case in London a f!ew years back.