DUKE OF FIFE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 182, 31 January 1912, Page 5

DUKE OF FIFE.

• DIES IN EGYPT. By Cable —Press Association—Copyright. Cairo, January 29. A bullrtin states that the Duke of Fife had a restless night, and the improvement tu not maintained. There is grave anxiety. London, Later. The Duke of Fife is dead. DETAILS OF THE ILLNESS. Received 31, L3O ajn. Cairo, January 30. The Duke of Fife, accompanied by the Princess Royal and his daughters, left Cairo at the end of January to ascend the Nile in private dahabeads. His illness caused the journey to be broken at Wady Haifa.

His condition had been serious since Friday^ The King, aboard the Medina, was constantly informed, receiving bulletins wireleasly. Captain Fitzgerald and the Hon. John Ward have left Cairo for Assoun to assist the Princess Royal in the funeral ar-

rxngement». It is understood the body will be brought to England aboard a battleship. The newspapers pay .*. tribute to the Duke of Fife's unbending loyalty andprobity towards his tenants. He had deep religious convictions, and was a devoted husband and father.

The late Duke of Fife, who was one of the largest land-owners in England, his estates extending over 249,300 acres (mostly poor land, however), led a fairly uneventful career. He was born in 1849, and by liis marriage with Princess Louise in 1889' became a son-in-law of King Edward VII. and Queen Alexandra. His wife. who. was created Princess Boyal in 1905, was the eldest daughter of the Royal Family. His two children are both daughters, the elder being Her Highness Princess Alexander, who, born in 1891, is heir presumptive to the dukedom and the Macduff earldom. The other daughter (Princess Maud) was born in 1893. The Duke first sat in Parliament as member for Elgin in 1874, and was at one time president of the British South Africa Company. On December 12 of last year the Duke, his wife and one daughter, had the misfortune to be on board the big steamer Delhi at the time of her wreck near Tangier. Together, with the rest of the party the Duke suffered rather severe hardships on that occasion, being upset from a boat in« making shore, and as he died from a pulmonary complaint, this may possibly have aggravated his trouble.

ROYAL ACCIDENTS AT SEA. A YACHT RUN DOWN. In connection with the recent stranding of the Delhi with the Princess Royal on board, it lias'been remarked that Royal personages have for long been immune from the perils of shipwreck, and the only modern instance which seems to have occurred to the searcher for precedents is the case of Queen Victoria, who was on board the Albertk when a collision with a small private yacht took place. Queen Victoria was, "of course, in no danger on that occasion, but the accident attracted much attention, both because Her Majesty was involved in it and because four lives were lost on board the yacht. In recalling this event, which took place in August. 1875, one newspaper mentioned that "the jury reprimanded the captain of the Alberta." As ft matter of fact, the jury—by which is meant the coroner's jury at Portsmouth—brought in a verdict of manslaughter against both the captain and the navigator of the Alberta. It was recognised at the time that this verdict merely represented the prevailing local excitement, end when the case came up at the ASsizes the Grand Jury threw out the bill. A Naval Court of Enquiry was held, and fully exonerated the captain and his officers. The captain in question was his Serene Highness the Prince of Lemingen, and the navigator was Staff Captain Welch, who had at that date been navigating the Royal yachts for twenty-seven years without accident. _ The cause of the accident was very simple. The Alberta was on her way from Portsmouth to Cowes, and off Stokes Bay began to overtake the Schooner yacht Mistletoe. Those on board the Mistletoe, wishing to have a good look at the Queen, proceeded to edge down so that the Alberta should pass close to them. The superior officers of the Alberta were all on the bridge, and recognised what was happening' they were well used to such curiosity and to the close shaves it entailed. Unfortunately on this occasion the man at the helm of the Mistletoe lost his nerve at the critical moment, and threw her right across the Alberta's bow, so as to render a collision inevitable. No other accident in the least resembling this has since taken place, but that is not to sav that Royal lives have not occasionally keen placed in danger afloat. Probablv the best-remembered instance of that kind is the dismasting of the racing cutter Shamrock in the Solent a few years ago, when King Edward was on board. It was only by the luck of his position on deck at the moment that His Majesty escaped from grave danger.