HOHENZOLLERN FAIRLY.

Putaruru Press, Volume IV, Issue 165, 30 December 1926, Page 6

HOHENZOLLERN FAIRLY.

A MELANCHOLY HISTORY. Prince Eitel Fhedrich, a sou of the ex-Kaiser has been requested L o reex- paiser has been requested i.o resign thfe grandm/aistership of me Most Aristocratic Order of St. John, on the ground that he was adjudged a guilty

party in a recent difvorce case. The grand masters giv-e the accolades that, the rules declare, can be. given only by persons free of reproach of anv kind (says a Berlin cablegram).

The whole Hohenzollern outfit (says the Toronto Star) seems to have hit the social and moral toboggan. In Germany, where the home and the family have had considerable sanctity as units of national power, tne bourgeoisie must be shocked by their melancholy history since the war. For the matrimonial adventures and misadventures of the royal family are growing longer annually. The latest chapters were added recently: A week or so ago Princess Joachim, widow of the ex-Kaiser’s second son, has re-married a mere baron —Baron Johann Michael von Loon—whose father was the former chamberlain i at the Hohenzollern court. And about the same time, Prince Eitel Friedrich, William’s second son, filed a suit for divorce against his wife. She has frankly admitted that during all the years of her married life she has been in love with Baron von Plettenburg, who was attached to the court of her father, the Grand Duke of Oldenburg, before her marriage. In the old days of grandeur a divorce in the Hohenzollern family would have f made the Emperor Frederick turn disgustedly in his grave. The Kaiser used to discipline his six sons when their wives complained about their conduct. He used even to banish them from the court if they were a little too indiscreet. But a divorce! Among the Hohenzollers! Never! Times have indeed changed.

Germany may some day possibly return to a monarchy, but not to a Hohenzollern monarchy. The ill-fated family has lost caste even among the royalists. The junkers were a little disgusted when the once supreme war lord himself married in exile, within 18 months of the death of the exKaiserin, the Princess Hermione of Reuss. Considering the peculiar position of sorrow and disgrace in which he and his country were at the moment, it was felt that the old boy might have passed over for the time being thoughts of further matrimonial ad-

Further fuel to the indignation of the royalists was added three years ago with the publication of a book entitled “ Women Around the Crown Prince.” They demanded that Willie, junior, prosecute the author and publishers for malicious libel. But the ex-crown prince discreetly bore the tribulation in silence. Years ago the Crown Princess Cecilie, indignant over her husband’s laindiscretions, went to the Kaiser and implored him to allow her to seek a divorce. But her father-in-law put his foot down and told her to remember that she was now one of the Hohenzollerns. A divorce! In the Hohenzollerns! Never! Fa she swallowed her chagrin and buried her sorrow in devotion to her children. When the armistice came, and the ex-Kaiser and the ex-Crown Prince fled from Germany, Cecilie was on the point of instituting divorce proceedings against the latter. But the royal ists persuaded her to hold off, telling her that one day yet she might be Empress of Germany. And Cecilie held off. And when Willie returned from exile with the chastened attitude of a prodigal son or husband, she received him with forgivenness, though she knew that her chance of ever becoming Kaiserin was as slim as her hope of being Queen of France. So much for the lack of serenity in the married life of the Kaiser’s eldest boy. The matrimonial troubles of his second son, Prince Eitel Friedrich, date back openly to 1922, when he first threatened to divorce his wife when she was named as co-respondent in a divorce suit brought by Baroness von Plettenburg against her husband. The princess on the witness stand on that occasion admitted friendship with the baron long before she was married, which friendship continued after her wedding to the Kaiser’s son. “ Did your husband know about it?” the divorce court judge asked her. “ Of course,” the princess replied cynically: “he knew everything.” But at that time Prince Eitel Friedrich was persuaded as a Hohenzollern to desist from proceeding against his wife. Since then he has evidently reconsidered his decision, despite the knock that the Airing of his matrimonial troubles maj do the Hohenzollern cause. Prince Joachim, the youngest son, had the most tragic matrimonial history of any of the ill-fated family. In

1916 the young Princess of Anhalt was married to him against her will. The union was unhappy from the beginning owing to the fact that Joachim was drunk most of the time that he was at home from the front.

So when the war ended and the Hohenzollern myth of majesty was shattered, the Princess Marie Augustine deserted Joachim and started suit for divorce. The prince pleaded in vain to be taken back and forgiven. So he went to the dogs altogether, gambled and drank at a torrid rate, and finally ended everything, shooting himself dead in a Potsdam apartment on 17 th July, 1920.

Prince Oscar, the fifth son, seemed to be the happiest of the lot. But some time ago he had troubles, too, which were his own fault, though he is still living with his wife.

Oscar married a mere nobody—the beautiful Countess Ina von Bassewitz. This disgusted the haughty Kaiser, who refused to recognise her as a member of the exalted Hohenzollerns. But after his flight lie relented and raised her to the rank of a full-fledged princess.

Oscar and she were happy until the former became infatuated with a musi 3 hall dancer. He negeltced his wife, who left him and returned home. But royalties persuaded the dancer to depart, smoothed over the trouble, and

persuaded the princess to rejoin Oscar on the basis of forgetfulness and forgiveness. This is the condition of affairs at present. Prince August Wilhelm, the fourth son of the Kaiser, had troubles that were on a line with those of his brothers. His wife sued him for divorce shortly after the war, citing numerous escapades on his part as grounds for her plea. But she was dissuaded from going on with the action, and still lives with August. The only one of the outfit whose married life has been commonly decent has been Prince Adalbert, the third son, whose wife, the former Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meniningen, rules society in the port of Hamburg, where Adalbert is a big business man.