A ROYAL BULLY

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 969, 12 May 1930, Page 9

A ROYAL BULLY

RUMANIAN PRINCE USES FISTS ON SUBJECTS KICKS AND CURSES TOO Prince Nicholae of Rumania, tlie oldest male representative of the royal family In the country, tries to bring up his subjects in a rather striking way—by kicking them or hitting them on the head with anything he can la}’ his hands on, and cursing them. H? usually gives these lessons in the streets before the public, and his unfortunate pupils in most cases are people who happen to check the rapid course of the royal automobile. A few weeks ago this young prince, who is one of Rumania’s three Regents, became angry with a chauffeur for not giving him ail the road he wanted, and he beat his victim up so badly that the poor fellow had to go to the hospital for several days, while a relative, who publicly protested, was tried for lese majeste aud sent to gaol. And now the newspapers in Bukarest describe another exploit of this prince As he was rushing along one of the streets he had to put on all brakes suddenly and come to a dead stop in order to keep from running into the wagon of a simple villager who was not used to manoeuvring his oxen in the streets of the capital. This inconvenience so enraged Nicholae that he jumped from his car and kicked and beat the peasant in the presence of quite a crowd of timid onlookers. These exhibitions of regal brutality are the last remnants of the royal insolence that tised frequently to manifest itself throughout the whole of Europe. At present all the central part of the Continent has been freed from kings. Royalty remains only about the edges and mostly in the small countries. But even there, in most cases, the kings have become exemplary rulers. The most exacting democrat could find nothing to complain of in King Boris of Bulgaria nor in the royal rulers of the Northern European countries. It is in Rumania that we find the least esteemed, royal family in Europe. The King, who died some two years ago, left his people during ail his reign in the hands of a powerful dictatorial family, while his elder son, the Crown Prince, deserted the army and the country and the throne at critical moments, and the other son, Prince Nicholae, is autocratic and weak. The crown rests upon the head of a little eight-year-old boy, who the whole country hopes will be better than his feeble grandfather, his wayward father and his ill-tempered uncle. At a time of great poverty, confusion and need. Rumania is not getting much help from its expensive royal family, one of the most costly in Europe.