KING CAROL II

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 242, 10 September 1940, Page 4

KING CAROL II

PLAYBOY DICTATOR. FOES WITHOUT".AND WITHIN. The news that King Carol of Rumania, has, for the second time in his career, abdicated the Throne adds one more dramatic chapter to the story of a ruler who lias throughout liis life enjoyed a unique degree of publicity. Playboy, King in semi-voluntary exile, reformed rake, dictator-king, and again forced from the Throne, Carol has had enemies within his country and without. To-day they still in large measure dictate his course. “Carol has been pointed out as a horrible example to all tho young princes of Europe for nearly a quarter of a century,” recently wrote John Phillips in an article in American Life. No man has so steadily made the front pages under unfavourable headlines.' Carol deserted his pretty wife Helen for a red-headed mistress. Carol appeared on State occasions with a shaky stance and a day-old beard. His father, Ferdinand, disowned him for ‘repeated moral delinquencies.’ His beautiful mother, Marie, wept in public for her erring son. King George V called him ‘that bounder,’ and refused to house him at Buckingham Palace. The London Daily Express described him in a headline as ‘King Carol the Cad.’

WELL-EQUIPPED TO SUCCEED. “The travesty of kingslnp implied by Carol’s slnriiing of royal duty, Ins flagrant affairs, and his loudness lor drinking were substantiated by the lact that he pliotograpiis badly. All Hohenzoilems look a little like dachshunds. In Carol’s ease the snouty appearance inherent in the royal blood strain is enhanced by a weak chin. That Carol is much more presentable than his picture naturally remained unknown. Adding up the net total of Carol’s behaviour and looks, the world long ago came to the conclusion that, morally, Rumania’s monarch was all that a king should not be. “Carol is not only a king, but a dictator as well. He handles this combination of functions with increasing skill. Carol is an excellent executive. He is also tho smartest politician in the Balkans. Surrounded by land-hungry nations, lie makes a deal with Germany one day, a concession to England the next, counters a Russian move the third, and has not yet been cornered by anybody. While Austria, Czechoslovakia, Albania and Poland were disappearing, Carol kept the crazy-quilt nation of Rumania inviolate. If Rumania is to survive, Carol must do tho job of saving it. He is well equipped to succeed.”

That was in March of this vear. Events since then have shown that—oil the surface at least—Carol’s diplomacy' failed. The wolves have gathered about her. Russia lias taken her toll with Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina; and now Hungary and Bulgaria, hacked by the Axis Powers, are further cutting into the border provinces of Carol’s Kingdom. THE OTHER SIDE. A Canadian writer, W. G. Fitzgerald, speaks in terms of admiration of this “reformed rake” who lias fostered the industry of his country, who helped peasant farmers to buy modern machinery, introduced better educational, systems, built better roads, designed his own marble palace at Bucharest, gives peasants easy access to his presence, who opened a. royal “store” in his capital, stocked with products of his own estates, and who writes personally in the cultural reviews of his country on industry and sport.

“To-day Rumania’s political parties and quacks are done with,” adds Air Fitzgerald. “And with one accord the kingdom’s twenty millions ask in triumph : ‘Have we not a. Redeemer in our devoted Carol, who has long worn his Crown of Thorns ?’ ”>

It is interesting in examining Carol and his prospects of dealing with the enemies gathered about him tosee how lie handled the internal political situation when he finally acquired the throne iii 19130. He needed security —for himself because his fears of assassination reached morbidity —and for Rumania because its greedy neighbours claimed half Ids territory. Looking around him Carol could not find the kind of men he wanted—able, loyal subordinates such as aue plentiful in England. CONQUEST OF IRON GUARD.

“Divide and Deign'' was Carol s motto. By 19137 there wits on!v one power in .Rumania which could stand up to him, the infamous Iron Guard, led b.y handsome young Zelea Codreamt. As soon as night fell on Bucharest, its gangs- of hooligans roamed the streets, robbing citizens, beating up Jews against the palace'wall. Carol stood the Iron Guard until it became so powerful tl.uat no Government could keep older. Then lie uncorked a piece of brilliant political Strategy. Ignoring Cod>'eanu, he called to the Premiership Oelavia.ii Goga, a poet who had preached Jew-baiting all his life. Carol's idea was to give Rumania a dose of Iron Guard terrorism that it would never forget, without letting the .Iron Guard s leader entrench hiiuseh at the head of the Government.

For 45 days Goga revelled in pogroms until the country recoiled in horror. On the lorty-filtli day Goga left the palace shaking with fury. “Israel, is triumphant," Goga cried. He was mistaken. Not Israel but Carol had triumphed !• The only way order could be restored was bv a Carol dictatorship and that was what the country got. Codreanu was gaoled and within a year shot.

Recently, under pressure from Germany, Carol released other Iron Guard leaders from prison and made concession after concession first to Germany, then to Russia, and again to Germany (through Hungary and Bulgaria). Now the Iron Guard has entered into its supreme triumph and.-unable to withstand the pressure, Carol has again given up his Throne to his son.