KING ALBERT.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 712, 14 October 1914, Page 6

KING ALBERT.

BELGIUM'S ROYAL SOLDIER,

The King of the Belgians haa been amongst his soldiers throughout the day comforting and encouraging all ranks by his presence, wrote Mr Martin Dnnohue to the London Daily Chonicle on August 14th. The King hateg display and ostentation and likea to >muve quietly and unobtrusively, in order to Bee things without, if pußaible, being seen or observed.

He is a sympathetic figure in a plain blue uniform, without any insignia whatever to denote the exalted rank of the wearer. Ela is iso featherbed soldier- He has passed nights in bivouac amongst his gallant soldiers who are bo bravely defending the Fatherland against Germany. He usually travels in a motor car driven by a soldier chauffeur, and attended by a single officer Yesterday and the previous day during the fighting at Dieet and Haelen he passed a paint along the army's front where proximity to the enemy made it advisable for him to abandon hia car. The King, with his equally plainly-clad aide-de-camp, insisted on making his way to a place where things were happening, I encountered him several times during the course of the day, and in the bustle and confusion of war it is not perhaps, to be wondered at if the King of thß Belgians, walking down the main street of a certain town, rubbed shouidera with officers and men of the national army without being recognised. The tall, fair man in dust-covered unform and wearing piric-nez, moved unconcernedly in the midst of his fighti ing mer\ Nobody bothered about him, because the very simplicity of his attire attracted no attention. Yesterday during his peregrinations he made his WBy to the military hospital, whore there were many wounded Belgians aa well as Germans The King wished to enter, but the sentry, with puzzled look unable to decide what was his rank, asked if he had special permission or entering the hospital. "No," said the Royal visitor quietly, "I have no pass, but then I am thfl King; perhaps you will permit me to enter."

The sentry smiled incredulously, and it required the energetic intervention of an aide-da-camp before the soldier would ha convinced and allow the King"* of tho Belgaina to pass. Now word has gone round of the King bearing the dangers and privations of the army, and every soldier will be on the look-out for the tall,, fair man with heightened complexion and pince-nez, and in uniform of no particular rank much the worse for wear. Late yeßterday I came fecroes the Ruler of Belgium seated by the sid« of the road eating sandwiches and drinking water from a soldier's water-bottle. His Spartan-like simplicity is one of his characteristics. Ha travels without escort of any kind, and when his automobile is held up on the road by Civil Guards or simple ceasants acting as police, ha produces his War Office pass, countersigned by the General of the Staff, in which era Ret out his name in full, his place of birih, and his profession, "King of the Belgian*."

Altogether Albert, King o£ the Belgians, is a lovable figure, full of «nthusiasm and patriotism, and detprn.iin«d tu resist ta the last the incursions of the Gorman Kaiser into the peaceful kingdorr.of Belgium. Thtt King is beloved by the Army. It is generally known that he has vowsd to parish at the head of the soldiers defending the patrimony cf Belgium rather than bow the knee in accepting the German yoke of vassalage.