NO BED OF ROSES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 274, 17 November 1914, Page 7

NO BED OF ROSES.

DUKE OF CUfyiBERLAND AND BRUNSWICK THRONE.

A Press Association cablegram gives the news that the Duke ■of Cumberland was found in a demented condition caused by worry over the war and was confined in an asylum. The Duke is related to the British •c-ign-ing family, and has in turn claimed the throne of Hanover and Brunswick In each case, however, ho has bton opposed by the Kaiser. The following details of his history and of his general relations have been collected /or the benefit of those interested: Hanover was originally peopled by the Cherusci and Lombards. In the time of Chai-lomaguo it was occupied by Saxon tribes, and continued, even ■after its conquest by that monarch, to be governed by Saxon dukes. Jn 1(192. after some changes in constitution,’ Hanover and Brunswick were united under 'Ernest Augustus, who had the title of Elector of Hanover. This prince had married a grand, daughter of James 1., King of England. and thus his family acquired eventual rights to the British throne. The nearest heir to Queen Anne, George Louis,, succeeded to the British throne in 1714 under the title of George I. From then until 1837 Hanover was governed by the Kings of England, without, however, forming a .part of that kingdom. In 1815 Hanover was erected into a kingdom. In 1837, after the death of William 111., the kingdom fell to Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, the fifth son of George 111. and younger brother of William IV; Queen Victoria, by the operation of the Sa-

lie Law, which excludes females from the throne, not being able to succeed William IV. in his rights over Hanover. In 1866 Hanover opposed Prussia in her war with Austria, and the Prussians invaded the country, confiscated the estates of the King and annexed Hanover as a Prussian province. The House of Brunswick is one of the oldest German families, deriving its descent from Albert Azo 1., margrave of Este, in Italy, who died in 964. The Guelphs and Ghibellines

were political parties conspicuous in German and Italian history from the 11th to the 14th century. The narties originated in the feuds between two German families, Waiblinger and Wolf. King George V., of Great Britain, and consequently the Duke of Cumberland, is a descendant of I he Guelph family. The present Buko of Cumberland was born in 1845. On the death of his father (George V. of Hanover) in 1878 he proclaimed his right to the throne of Hanover, though he finally abandoned the claim in 1892. On the death of Duke William of Brunswick in 1884 without direct heir, the Duke of Cumberland also became heir to that duchy, though he was not tallowed by the German Federal Council actually to govern it. Ir 18J8 he was created a general :n tlie Brit-

i:- h army. The Duke and Duchess of Cuml.erIrnd paid a visit to the Emperor of Germany in April, I Q I3. This viK’t was preparatory to the na.w.age of the Emperor’s Ernest Augustus i f Cumberland, which took place on May 2ll’i with much state and amid general >’e:oicihg. King George and the CVar of Russia attended the wedding. The following art* de dealing with the relations between the Kaiser and llie Duke of Cumbedand was published in October, 1913: -.According to a recent statement in the “Weser Zutung,” one of the in ist lenruticnal myans in Germany, the Kaiser’s daughter had become Min ar. ardent I artisan of tlie Gueipn cause that : he Kaiser had summonej a family rrmference to see what could be done. It w.fs understood that the re ml war mage meant the • iisarmea-inco of Die Guelphs, and that the Brunswick succession would be settled favorably, as a concession by the Kaiser. The origin of the estrangement between the two Houses of Hohenzollern and Guelph was the war. of 1 rQ6, after which Prussia gratified an old longing which had done a great deal lo cripple Europe in the struggle against Napoleon by annexing Hanover. It i> understood the son of the deposed monarch on his death-bed exact'd from his son a promise that lie would never acquiesce in the loss of the singcloin, and until now r the Duke has not 1 only maintained his claims to t:ie Crown, but has invariably repulsed the Emperor’s advances, which once, many years ago, were made in a personal interview at the Vienna Court. When

the Brunswick line of Guelphs he. came extinct in 1884 and the Ducal throne should have reverted to the Hanoverian branch, the Federal Council decided that the legal heir could not he allowed to succeed till he had renounced the throne of his father for himself and all his family. This the Duke refused to do, and he adhered to his attitude when the question was raised afresh on the death of the Regent of Brunswick, Prince Alhrecht of Prussia, a few years ago. A decisive change in the relationships of the two Houses seems to have followed the fatal motor accident to the Duke’s eldest son, Prince George, which took place on Prussian soil last May. The Emperor then sent two (of his sons to the scene of the i catastrophe, and expressed his sorrow |in a telegram to the Duke. Since .'then Prince Max of Baden, one of the jDuke’s sons-in-law, has heon active jin the role of mediator, and it is evidently in recognition of his services; that the formal reconciliation took place in Karlsruhe. It was recentlyi announced that Prince Ernest August' had applied for admission to the Prussian Army, and would he given a commission in the Ziothon Hussars,

of which his grandfather and' greatgrandfather were both honoi.irj colonels. Tiie question of the succession in Brunswick appears to have been only partially settled. It was officially intimated at the time of the betrothal, in February last, that the matrimonial alliance between the two Houses “will have no immediate political. consequences,” and a paper which is usually well informed on Court matters stated that the problem would rot be finally solved during the lifetime of the Duke of Cumberland. According to the “Vossische Zeitung,” the Empress had played a very prominent part during recent years in i’ne work of reconciliation, and (latterly, with the Emperor’s agreement, was represented as mediator by Prince Adalbert. It was originally intended to announce the engagement on the Emperor’s birthday, but the plan was altered in consequence of “certain Court considerations and special wishes which were put forward from the side of Austria.”