Prince Alexander's Fortune.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 179, 20 November 1886, Page 1

Prince Alexander's Fortune.

The " Times," which has lately obtained an unenviable notoriety from the preposterous -omances it has been circulating so freely, asserts that the late Empress of Russia bequeathed upwards of £230,000 to Prince Alexander of Battonburg, "her favourite nephew," but that the legacy ha 3 never been paid. This is manifestly nonsense, for the Empress, who derived every shilling she ever posessed from her husband, >had no power to bequeath a rouble out of , Russia, nor did she possess any such fortune aa the "Times" mentions. The Empress had a very large annual income ; but the expenses of her household were enormous, and she supported some of her beggarly relatives at "Darmstadt — notably her brothor, Prince Alexander of Hepso, to whom she gave every rouble she could spare ; and she also presented him with the Schloss and park of Heiligenberg, on the Bergetrasse, whore he usually lives. Prince Alexander derives his present income, which is a very small one, from his saving out of, the late Empress's liberal presents. "Whatever money Prince Alexander of Battenbere now posesses he has obtained in Bulgaria, as he had not a mark to his name when he left Berlin for Sofia seven years ago.

A London waiter was both witty and parca9tic, and did'nt know the fact. "Do you call that a veal cutlet, waiter?" said an exquisite, one of the most delicate type even in that favoured region oi" exquisites, the West End. " Why, air, such a yea cutlet as that is an inault to every selfrespecting calf in the British .empire !' The waiter hung his head in very shame for a moment, and then replied, in the language ,of humblest apology, * ( I reallj I d'd'nt intend to insult you, sir." f