PRINCE LOUIS’ CAREER.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1321, 7 November 1914, Page 4

PRINCE LOUIS’ CAREER.

A DISTINGUISHED NAVAL OFFICER.

The resignation by Admiral his Serene Highness, Prltvro Louis Alexander ot Batten berg, C.C.8., G.C.V.0., K.C.M.G., A.D.C., of the supremely important post of First Sea Lord of Admiralty, will be received with sincere ngret by all the officers and men in the Grand Fleet, by whom he was greatly admired and esteemed. Very many people who concern themselves with the welfare of the Sea Service, also, will receive the announcement with regret. There can be no doubt that his resignation is a result of what a telegram published recently described as “silly stories, which have been current for some weeks, discrediting the loyalty" of this distinguished naval officer. Prince Louis of Battenberg, who was born at Gratz (Austria) on May 24th, 1854, was the eldest son of Prince Alexander of Hesse, and in 1884 he married his cousin, the Princess Victoria, a daughter of Louis IV., Grand Duke ol Hesse, K.G., and of Princess Alice, Queen Victoria’s daughter. Prince Louis of Battenberg has two sons and two daughters, and his eldest son, Prince George, is now serving as a lieutenant in H-M.S. New Zealand. HIS NAVAL CAREER. Prince Louis became a naturalised British subject and entered the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1868, was promoted sub-lieutenant 1574, lieutenant 1876, commander 1885, and captain in 1891. As a lieutenant in H.M.S. Inconstant he served in the Egyptian War 1882, and was lauded with the Naval Brigade in charge of a battery for the occupation of Alexandria, receiving the medal and the Khedive’s star for bis services. He was Director of Naval Intelligence, T 902-04, was promoted Rear-Admiral on July Ist, 1904, and appointed to the command of the Second Cruiser Squadron, 1904-06. He was second in command on the Mediterranean Station, 1906-08, commanding the First Cruiser Squadron, then flying his flag in H.M.S. Drake. On June 30th, 1908, he was promoted Vice-Admiral, and was appointed Cotmnander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet, which position he held until 1910. In 1911 he was commanding the Third and Fourth Divisions of the Home Fleet, and in the same year was appointed ■ Second Sea Lord of the Admiralty. APPOINTED FIRST SEA LORD. On December 9th, 1912, Admiral Sir Francis Bridgeman, First Sea Lord, retired on account of ill health, and Admiral Prince Louis of Battenberg succeeded him as “a matter of course,” In an appreciation of the new First Lord The Times said : “We say as a matter of course not merely, nor eveu chiefly, because the established, though not unbroken, usage of the Admiralty points distinctly in that direction but still more because the unanimous voice of the Sea Service would acclaim the Second Sea Lord as the officer unquestionably best fitted to take the vacant place. It is perhaps in some respects a disadvantage to him that he holds the title of

Prince, since to those who have not followed his very distinguished career in the Service, the fact might suggest that he owes his present position to favour rather than to merit. Such an illusion if it exists anywhere —it certainly does not exist in the Navy—is totally devoid of foundation. Had Prince Louis been the son of an obscure commoner and entered the Navy without patronage or favour his rare gifts aud accomplishments, his life-long devotion to the Service he adorns, his sagacity, his counsel and his brilliant aptitudes for command at sea would undoubtedly have brought him to the front. In some quarters it might at one lime have seemed to be a more real disadvantage that Prince Louis was not born a British subject, and that he is closely related by marriage to more than one European Sovereign. But, if that could at any time have been regarded as a disqualify Aon, his whole career in the Navy and the important responsible and highly confidential positions he has successively occupied at the Admiralty would be a more than sufficient answer to auy possible objection that could now be raised.” A KINGDOM DECLINED. Piiuce Louis has had a life with some adventures in it. He once had a famous brother, Prince Alexander of Battenberg, who was ruler of Bulgaria, aud who, by personal courage, saved that country when it apparently lay at the mercy of the Servian Army. Not very long afterwards Prince Alexander was forced by revolutionists to choose between abdication and assassination. It is stated that subsequently Prince Louis, who was with his brother on that occasion, was offered the sovereignty of Bulgaria, but he declined on the ground that he preferred to remain a British uaval officer. As a man Prince Louis when afloat, was very popular on the lower deck as well as on the quarterdeck. A strict disciplinarian, he was always just, and as a captain his regard ior the welfare of his bluejackets was well-known and appreciated.