The Prince of Wales' Dramatic and Record Rush

NZ Truth, Issue 1203, 20 December 1928, Page 7

The Prince of Wales' Dramatic and Record Rush

NOR was this a gesture by rote, some new affectation guided by precedent that would steal pleasantly across the senses oi his father's' subjects, and so framed that the world exterior to Great and Greater Britain might know how truly deep must be the sense of duty m a prince. Those republican countries which twit we peoples of the British Empire, must be discomfited at the remarkable spirit which actuates the very humblest unit of our corporate nation; and they will acknowledge Ayith admiration the wonderful example which the Empire's most lovable son has set tho rest of the world. When the first uneasy news Of _ the King's health was wafted across the hemispheres, the Prince of Wales was following the' beckoning finger of big game shooting m the Tanganyika district of Africa. Then came th'e question, inarticulate yet clearly implied, which formed the focal point between tho disturbing news concerning the King at Bucking-

TO SEE HIS FATHER, THE KING

Half Round The World, Across Land and Sea

international: significance

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Wellington Representative.)

Never before, m the merging histories of the British Empire's domestic and national experience, have its units been so thrilled, either from, the dramatic or the sentimental viewpoint, as when the Prince of Wales, the superlative example of diplomacy, . and of wistful affection of a son for his father, rushed half-way round tlie world m 9 1 /} days so that he might sustain the ailing spirit of his father, King George the Fifth.

ham Palace, and the sporadic scraps of information which wavered over the cables m respect of the . son who seemingly had cut himself off from the stresses of Royal existence. The question was:' What will- the'. - Prince of Wales do? Many would' say that SO Closely interleaved is>the sense of duty which is incumbent upon members of any royal family, with the filial love which manifests itself m the veriest commoner, that the Prince of Wales naturally would react to such an imperative circumstance. - . But the warm, quick affection of "Teddy"! Wales — he who penetrated to the innermost heart of those m the ruck and muck of Flanderswent deeper than the petty pretensions which sound so well and mean so little. In the crisp, incisive way that is characteristic of him, he immediately cancelled the remaining arrangements for his trip m Africa, and through the

incredible swiftness of radio's Avinged communications : were the ways of Europe made straight. At half- past three m the morning he left the remote spot of Dodoma, and with only one friend as ha escort he sped by train across tlie wearisome country which stretches northwards to Cairo. .'.-.- Jn the meant; hie, the cruiser Enterprise, one of the fastest vessels m the British cruiser squadron, was hurtling along on the fringe of the .Indian Ocean, from Dar-e.s-Salaam along the African coast, to Aden at the lower peak of the Red Sea, thence through the Red Sea to Port Said. While the throbbing motors' of.' the "Enterprise" carried her through the latter stages of her swift passage to the northern port of the Red Sea, the Prince '-.of Wales nervously satin a

(.'hail* at the Cairo Residency, smoking a cigarette and eligeily appeasing tue bulletins concerning his 'fatner.. He exercised as much as possible, but when lie mounted tlie gangway of 'the "Enterprise""- -at Port Said, the .strain m his eyes contrasted with the tan' witn which tropic suns' nad. colored tne remainder"- of his face. Then came- the stress of a nervewracking, . time-eljuunating skelter across the Mediterranean to the Italian seaport of Brindisi; a "journey which combined, for tne Priiice of Wales a wealth of anxiety for his father, with the experience of speeding m a shuddering, sea-swept warship, whose commander' anxiously enquired of the Prince whether or not they should continue. "Go ahead," was the response. At Brindisi there became manifest the outward and visible sign

of inter-national confraternity m its most true degree; where the stupidities of world conferences were swept away from the perspectivej when the prejudices and vainglorious outpourings of statesmen were eliminated by the urge of national sympathy. In Italy, through "Switzerland, and across the pleasant 'fields of France, the condition of sympathetic unaerstanding was ever paramount, and the wishes of the Prince and the British Embassies, that the royal son should proceed unhampered by adulation and receptions, .were Honored to 'tne uttermost degree.. - .'Behind ten swift locomotives the Prince rushed across the three countries, and when he stepped aboard the deatroyei* Torch at Boulogne, he had bridged ntl-ie miles Which stretch between the Mediterranean and the English Channel with a speed. that was remarkable. . Then Dover; a special train to London; a huge station platform deserted save for a few members of his special

entourage; a car to the palace where lay his ailing father, the King . . . '•'.. The assembled physicians strongly advised the Prince against an interview just then, although they reassured him who had employed every possible avenue that would shorten his journey to the b edside, regarding the patient's condition. Thus and thus did the eager affection of a princely son do homage to a beloved monarch, even as he expressed an unaffected love for his royal father. More, it blended the influences of national amity, proving beyond all else that underlying what apparently describes the opposite, there yet remains the strong, sweet element of international understanding, and the desire to help when the, occasion arose. , /Who knows but that the TKing's illness and the Prince's dramatic haste to his bedside Sviil do more to .facilitate world peace than all the discussion? and decisions 7of the League of Nations?