FOREIGN KINGS AND PRINCES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 20 July 1907, Page 4

FOREIGN KINGS AND PRINCES.

.—o EUROPEAN COUNTRIES RULED BY I ALIEN SOVEREIGNS. I It is a remarkable fact thai in almost j every instance the rulers of countries, other than those known as the Great Powers and outside the German Empire, are of alien birth or alien origin to their subjects. The King of the Belgians is a son of Prince Leopold of Coburg, who was elected King by the Belgian National Congress in 18.11, thirteen years after be had lost his first wife, the Princess Charlotte of England, and one year before his marjriage with the [laughter of Louis Philippe. In this, as in most othei cases, I a good deal of persuasion was supposed : to be required to induce the chosen one ,to accept the dignities offered him, and 1 English .slates'innship was, as usual, an j important factor in the ultimate decision.

A year earlier lie had hesitated, conditionally accepted, and finally declined the Greek throne. The negotiations respecting this question formed tho theme. jof contemporary European diplomacy, Prince Leopold's candidature being 'specially, if secretly, welcome to Russia. j The King of Sweden, who is in years the doyen of European monarchs, is of the respected, hut by no means regal, .family at Bernailotte,'established at Pail | for many years before the birth of dean ißaptistc .lules, who, through the favor jof Napoleon, was elected Prince Royal of i Sweden by the Etafs Suodois in' 1810, 'and mounted the throne of the linked powers of Sweden and Norwav in 1818. When King Oscar's second son twenty years ago married morganatieally a young English lady of good famliy it was pointed out that in the veins of the hridc there flowed a loftier strain of blood than in those of the princely bridegroom, who, however, followed the dictates of his heart, and who has never regretted bis choice. One is very loth to tamper with the pretty figure of speech under which out own gracious Queen is described as the daughter of the Sea King. But the late King of Denmark was a Prince of Schleswig-Holstein, who in virtue of his Consort, Princess Louise of Hesse, was designated by the Treaty of London in 1852, and by the law of succession in the following year, as the inheritor of the Danish throne. The princely houses of Coburg and BragaiiKa are responsible, for the dynasty of Portugal, while the death without issue of the Queen of Holland would provoke their rival claims of Nassau and Luxembourg. The election of the present King of Norway, a Prince of German origin paternally, and with French blood in his veins through his mother, the highlydowered daughter of Charles V. of Sweden will certainly exhibit itself as one of the happiest demands of a plebiscite which knew its own mind. It is pleasant in this respect to remember that the father, the brother, and the son-in-law of Queen Alexandria have all be selected and summoned by popular acclaim and by constitutional law to supreme office. ■ , The crown of Greece, before being placed on tho lead of the present ruler, was offered unanimously to the late Duke of Coburg. who for obvious reasons connected with his future inheritance was not permitted by Queen Victoria to accept it. It was also, according to rumor current at the time, dangled before the late Duke of Cambridge, who sturdily assorted his preference for service in and command over the British Armv.

Finally, a protocol signed in London on .lane 5. 1863, by the three "protecting Powers"—France. England and Rus-sia"--named Prince William, second son of the King of Denmark, who assumed | his regal position four months later under the title of King George of the HcL lenes.

The King of Roumania, whose greatly•rifted consort has just given further evidence of her British sympathies by her splendid contribution to the cripples' fete at the Mansion House, fs an illustrious scion of the Hohenzollern house. He was elected reigning Prince of Roumania with hereditary rights in 18S6 by plebiscite, his election being immediately recognised by the Powers; twelve years later he was advanced to the rank of royal highness, and in 1881 by the unanimous vote of the deputies ho was proclaimed King Prince Ferninand, youngest son of the late Prince Augustus of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, was elected Prince of. Bulgaria by unanimous vote of the National Assembly, on July 7, 1887. ' His predecessor, Prince Alexander, was the brother of Prince Henry and Prince Louis of Battenlierg. He abdicated in September, 1888.

The theory that "vox populi is "vox Dei" seems to he well illustrated by the choice of these various peoples of a ruler. In few cases has any set-hack occurred in the good relations between govenor and government; in few cases can there be traced any inclination to quarrel with or alter the decision arrived at internally and ratified after due consideration externally . Yet in almost every country the elected monarchs have shown-them-selves to be a good deal more than a merely ornamental figure-head of the ship of State. With each successive year, and in the gradual fulfilment of national destinies, there is abundant evidence of the important part which can still be nobly played by those who are called to high office—an indisputable fact most happily expressed in a memorable letter written by Mr Gladstone to the late Duke of Clarence, which contained these words: "If sovereignty has been relieved by our modern institutions of some of its burdens, it still, I believe, remains true that there has been no period of this world's history at which successors to the monarchy could more efficaciously contribute to the stability of a great historic system, dependent even more upon love than upon strength, by devotion to their duties, and by a bright example to their country. "This result wo have been happily permitted to see, and I trust fresh generations will witness it anew."