THE SERVIAN THRONE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 55, 30 March 1909, Page 3

THE SERVIAN THRONE.

Tllli HLTII APPARENT. Loudon, March is. Prince Alexander, on hearing of the renunciation, dcciard that under ji > circumstances would he lake hi- brother's place, adding: "If lie cannot be a good jviug neither can I. 1 will stick to iiiui through thick and thin."

KEX UXLTATION COMPLETE. Keceived 211, 11.10 p.m. Belgrade, March ill. The Crown Prince ol Servia's renunciation was read in the Skupstchina and adopted with a single dissentient. The Crown Prince afterwards attended a Cabinet meeting, and renewed his renunciation. He visited Prince Alexander, and affectionately wished him bettr luck than he himself had had. AUSTRIA PLEASED. Received 20, 11.10 p.m. Vienna, March -If. The Vienna Press favorable receives Prince Alexander's succession, his sympathy with Austria being known

George, the Crown Prince, was bo:n in 188i° and Alexander, in whose favor he has renounced succession to the crown, in 1888. For a short time last year llie Crown Prince was something of a popular hero because of his violent declarations against Austria-Hungary. Prince Ueorge has been described as

••a Royal hooligan," "a scapegrace,' and "the most harum-scarum young man in the courts of nurope." In May last, the Vossiche Zeitung, a leading Berlin newspaper, published a circumstantial story with regard to a sliocKing incident in which the Prince was saw to have been the principal actor. llie Zeitung stated that Prince George, who held the rank of lieutenant of Hie 18th Regiment of Servian Infantry, was auiusiu'° himself by shooting the ash oil' a cigarette held in the mouth of a soldier, when he missed his mark and killed the unlortunate smoker. The Prince, it is asserted, with shocking callousness, caused the body of the victim to be sent in a cotlin to the young mans father without any explanation or remarks as to the circumstances under which he had met his death. It was not until the father opened the cuiliu to take a last iarcwcll of his sou that he discovered that the latter had been shot. , But the particular act which aroused the anger of the people against him more than any of his other deeds of folly, buys an article published in Every Saturday, was the raid he made on the Convent of the Blessed Trinity, outside Belgrade. With three companions he drove from the Cafe de Paris in the email hours of the morning, battered in the convent wicket gate, and ran a sworu through the faithful watch-dog. As the voun" men started on a tour of the cloisters, they were suddenly confronted hy the .Mother Superior. Then they seemed to have been brought to their ■senses, lor they got ,:o tuitnei. ihe sacrilege raised the greatest indignation among the intensely religious people ol ricrvia, and the insult will not oe easily forgotten. More recently a mouse was caught in Prince George's room. With the animal in his hand he went to the two sentinels at the entrance to the royal palace, and, lifting it near the mouth ol one of them, commanded him to bite oil' the mouse's head. The startled soiditr refused, whereupon the Prince began to cudgel him terribly, and threatened to ghoot him down. On hearing the snriekjng of the crowd which had meanwwle assembled, the officers on duty came out of the palace, and it was only their interference that saved the poor fellow's life. , , ... On 18th October last the Vienna colrespondent of the London Daily lelecrapu stated: "As Prince George is continually insulting and tyrannising ovei the officials, court marshals, caiefs ol Cabinets, and stewards, his Loyal_ Highness has been ordered to reside m the palace. Hitherto he has had a separate house in the neighbourhood. A tele o i." received from Belgrade this evening states that the police have A™ m ( ?™J ~lot for the • removal of Prince G0,,. The conspirators are alleged to ui niostV regicides implicated in tne crime of 11th June, 191)3, and, therefore, - thcr the Government nor the police dait do anything. The Prince is m a perpetual state of nervousness.