“When I Marry— ”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 660, 11 May 1929, Page 18

“When I Marry— ”

Prince of Wales Speaks of

Future Honeymoon Plans

A

LBERTA is wondering, a bit uneasily, if it will see soon again a slim figure in somewhat nondescript clothing and a devil-may-care

slouch hat digging post holes on the “E-P” Ranch —the Prince of Wales (writes Hector Macdonald in the Sydney “Sun”). For there are many who are convinced that even with the King restored to health the Prince of Wales will deem it wise to take over some of his father's burdens of State, and that this will interfere with those informal Canadian visits.

Meanwhile, still hoping to welcome back its friend the Prince, Alberta is recalling with warmth in its heart delightfully democratic little incidents of former visits by this young man w&o some day will be King. To find a more secluded spot than the "E-P” ranch, nestling below the Rocky Mountains in the foothills of the Highwood country, would be difficult. It is 65 miles south-west of Calgary, many miles from the railway; even motor-cars have to ford the shallow Pekisko River. The Prince during his first year at the ranch said to Professor W. G. Carlyle, manager of the E.P.:

"I should like a picnic for the neighbours.” "All of them?” the manager inquired dubiously. “All that will come,” said the Prince. “Well, that means the lot. But how are we going to feed them? We cannot bring enough food in.” "Let them bring their own food. And we will supply the biscuits and beer and coffee.” So the invitations were sent to all the ranchers roundabout, and friends in Pincher Creek and High River and Calgary. It was to be a basket picnic Everyone went —hundreds. The Prince wore an old polo outfit and an old grey coat. The coat bore evidence of an unsuccessful attempt to get through a barbed-wire fence. A huge rent in the back had been stitched together. It looked like a man’s workmanship. To the younger men and women, the Prince paid comparatively little attention, no more than the courtesy of a host required; but he was constantly with the older folk and the children. Two small incidents which illustrate characteristics of the Prince of Wales marked a recent auction of surolus stock at his ranch. H.R.H. was in the crowd surrounding the sales ring when word was brought that George Lane had driven up. Mr.

, Lane was one of his oldest Alberta l friends. He got up from a sick i bed to pay his respects. The Prince : ran at once to his friend’s car and ; insisted that Mr. Lane stay seated. i They had a long chat, the tall and i grizzled rancher and the fair-haired, sunburnt heir to the British Throne. The other incident was this: Atone stage in the sale. Professor Carlyle ■ desired to ask the Prince about some- ■ thing connected with it. He could not find him. At last the Prince was discovered, the centre of a score of children, seated on the ground, and competing with them in drawning animals in the sand. The Prince’s extraordinary vitality and physical energy are daily displayed on the ranch. “He comes here for a rest,” Professor Carlyle said, “and he tires out everyone trying to keep up with him.' Whenever he goes to bed, he is first up. A story of Professor Carlyle’s concerns an experience with a newspaperman from the United States. There is really only one rule the Prince wants observed on his visits to Alberta. Reporters and photographers must not come without invitation. The newspaperman in question felt he could avoid the restrictions and he had driven from High River. Professor Carlyle tells what happened. “On this day his Royal Highness was up early as usual, ahead of me, and I am an early riser,” he explained. “When I appeared, he said: ‘Well, what do I do to-day?’ '“‘There is no work,’ I told him. ‘You had better ride.’ “ ‘No,’ he answered, ‘I want to do something different. I will ride later.’ : “Then I mentioned that I was try- : ing to get the road gravelled. If he wanted to shovel gravel from the creek he could. “ ‘The very thing,’ he decided. So he called Prince George and they put on long rubber boots and old clothes and got into the creek. All the morning they loaded the cart with gravel. They were hard at it when this newspaperman came along. He spoke to the two gravel-diggers and thmi walked over to me. I explained thWf he could not interview the Prince and escorted him back to his car. When I got back to the creek both the Princes were smiling broadly. “ ‘What happened?’ I asked. “They explained that the reporter had come over, and asked if the Prince was about. “ ‘He is about somewhere if you can only find him,' the Prince "of Wales answered. ‘He was here a minute ago,' and with that he began to shovel gravel harder than ever.” The newspaperman did not know how close to a story he was. Let me conclude these rambling references to H.R.H. and his Canadian ranch with another little story. In front of the unpretentious ranch cottage, with its wide verandah, extends an enclosure of smoothly-cut grass. One evening the Prince and his party with a few friends were sitting on the steps. “You know,” the Prince remarked. “I love this place.” He looked around to the low foothills that mark his land and farther across to the peaks of the Rockies. “But it cannot compare with vour other places in the Old Country',” someone commented. “Ah, but they are not mine as this place is,” the Prince replied. ‘This is my own home, and when I marry I hope to bring my wife here for our honeymoon.” He did not say, “If I get married,” but “when I marry.”