British Royalty Views Homes of Hohenzollerns

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 614, 16 March 1929, Page 9

British Royalty Views Homes of Hohenzollerns

Duke and Duchess of York at Palace of the Ex-Kaiser

SIGHT-SEEING IN BERLIN British Official Wireless Reed. 11.45 a.m. RUGBY. Friday. The Duke and I>ue' .ess of York, who are on their way to Oslo to attend the wedding of the Crown Prince of Norway and Prineess Martha of Sweden, reached Berlin this morning, travelling incognito. They were met at the station by th«British Ambassador, Sir Horace Rumbold. and will spend the day in Berlin, continuing the journey to Oslo tonight. Their visit, which is of course unofficial, is the first British Royal visit to the German capital since 1914. The Duke and Duchess, after breakfasting at the British Embassy, started out in a car with Lady Rumbold, wife of the Ambassador, on a round of sight-seeing, in the course of which they went over the former palace of the ex-Kaiser. They displayed great interest in what used to be the Imperial suite of rooms, which have been left as when they were occupied by William 11. In the afternoon the Duke and Duchess drove out to Potsdam, where they were shown over the palace of Frederick the Great. While in the ex-Kaiser's Palace the Duke and Duchess asked many questions. The Duke was surprised at being told that the ex-Kaiser's table was fashioned from wood from Nelson's Victory. Asked whether it actually had been proved that it came from the Victory, he was informed that the donors had vouched that it was. This was the table on which the Kaiser signed the mobolisation order that started the armies moving in the Great. War.

The Duke and Duchess of York departed after the Duke had left a card for President Hindenburg at the Presidential Palace. The President returned the courtesy at the Embassy.