MAD PRINCE OF SERVIA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 148, 9 November 1912, Page 10

MAD PRINCE OF SERVIA.

WILD EXPLOITS. London, which is a centre for hotblooded revolutionaries and people whosegrievances in their own country are greater than they can bear, is harboring at present a group of fiery young Servians. They are all adherents of Prince George of Servia, who has been formally cut off from any rights to the throne of his country, and they are bound by vows and oaths to do what they can to restore to this youth his royal preroga. tives. King Peter of Servia is an example of just how uneasy the head that bears a crown can be. He gained his throne through bloodshed and violence, the first few years of his reign his own life was in daily peril, and he was treated as a usurper by other crowned heads, while within his family circle.trouble was constantly brewing and breaking out. But how ever King Peter may have gained his throne his methods of keeping it and his courage, tact and wisdom have been beyond question. He partially won his people when he rode through the city of Belgrade eight years ago. His only attendant was one of the leaders of the army, who held the bridle of his horse. The King was quite unarmed and practically unprotected. In fact, he offered himself as a mark to any furious adherents of his murdered predecessor.

No one attempted violence, though in Servia assassination is regarded as part of the ordinary routine of a revolution. As a matter of fact, the crowds of people who lined the streets cheered and applauded the Royal progress, partly because most of them were tired of the rule of the eccentric Alexander and his unroyal Queen and partly because every Servian admires bravery, and they asknowledged that their new Sovereign had shown considerable courage on that sunny morning as he rode calmly through the capital. King Peter has always ranked among the courageous of the world. He fought for France in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, and acquitted himself so well that he was awarded the Cross of the Legion of Honor for valor on the field of battle. His whole life has been one series of adventures and hair-breadth escapes from death or disaster.

After this unattended ride had shown his calibre to his subjects the now King proceeded to, effect various changes in manners and customs in Belgrade. In the first place, he speedily built himself a new palace. He pronounced the old one uncomfortable and insanitary, which was quite true, and he admitted to certain of his entourage that some of the rooms were haunted by tragic associations, which materialised into visitations from some of the victims of the recent slaughter that had taken place there. Surely if any place ever is haunted the Servian palace should have been, for in its precincts was enacted one of the most sanguinary coups of the last century. A party of officers and guards of the royal establishment proceeded one night to butcher King Alexander, Queen Draga and any who attempted to defend them. In a few moments the palace was like a shambles. Then the murderers threw the bodies out into the courtyards, mopped up the crimson traces of their guilt, covered the floors with sawdust, and Peter, waiting outside, marched in with his retinue and took possession. The sixty-five regicides were all well rewarded and everything appeared to be going smoothly, except that the ghosts of the murdered king and his father had an uncomfortable way of wandering round their former home. •Hence the new palace, which is built upon a hill in the centre of the town. The northern front of it looks over the river towards Temescar. Far away in the left is the mysterious Mount Avala. To the right the Danube broadens as it flows on to the Iron Gate. The main entrance is on the principal street of the citv.

The Royal home is very unpretentious, but comfortable. There are some fine carvings in the State rooms and there is a charming garden, the chief features of which is a regular maze, of shrubberies. Really the finest rooms in the palace are the suites reserved for Royal guests, and these have never been used, as King Peter has not yet been so far taken into favor by other monarchs as to act host to any of them. There is no doubt, however, that he will achieve even this in time, and the recent marriage of his daughter Elena "will help towards that end. The Princess of Servia has for a husband John Constantinovitch. who is related to the Czar of Russia, the Crown Princess of Germany, the Crown Princess of Rnumania, Prince William of Sweden, and his own nephew to the Queen of Greece, which connects him with the Royal families of England and Denmark. Besides his Belgrade palace, King Peter has a villa at Semcndria. Tt is only a small and somewhat primitive place, but here he has spent his happiest hours since he came to the throne. It is to Senipndvia that he retires when cares of State and family have weighed too heavily upon him, and he is ill and wearied of the game. The ghost of King Alexander has been laid, according to all accounts, since the new palace shelters the Royal family, but a far more difficult and troublesome matter is the very visible and material presence of the ex-Crown Prince George. This young man was for a long time his father's favorite child, partly because he, too, does not know the meaning of the word fear. In fact, his courage"runs to foolhardiness and wild recklessness. After King Peter's accession the' e was a distinct coldness between father and son on account of a morganatic, marriage contracted by Prince, George, and suddenly (whether from riotous living or sheer devilry no one knows) the heir to the throne commenced a series of the wildest, maddest escapades imaginable. Tie was busy planning and executing orgies and excitements all the time. He has unbounded energy and his tastes are bizarre, to put it mildly. He has a royal etiquette all his own, and if there is anything he could have done and didn't it's only because he didn't think of it.

Some people declare him quite hopelessly insane, others attribute his idiosyncrasies to much absinthe and a certain powerful native drug, but in spite of everything he is the real idol of the reckless crowd which dominates the army in Servia. His'maddest freaks were generally timed to take place at the moment of some State or religious festival. At one of the latter, when Peter and a great body of his clergy were present, the Crown Prince suddenly appeared at the review in a carriage gaudily decorated. His companions were half-a-dozen ballet girls in low-cut waists and spangled skirts. The Price's military cap was perched on the yellow head of one of these gentle damsels, his coat was wrapped round another, while his riding boots were on the forelegs of one of the horses. When the royal procession passed George, with very bleary eyes and disordered hair, rose from his seat, supported on either side by a girl, and at the sight of the King he saluted and shouted "Hurrah for good old papa!" The effort to cheer was too much for him, though. and he fell forward through the bottom of the carriage, with his stockinged feet showing on the pavement. The King never turned his head, not even when iihe Prince righted himself and flung an empty bottle at a bearded high priest. It fell short of its mark, however, and

lit a s;uiry, whereupon tho Prince was overcome with grief .and in.ii.iU'J upon bringing the wounded man liunie in hi* carriage, ruthlessly turning out the ballet girls to get along as best they could. After this escapade the King took step's to cut oil' his oldest son from any rights to the throne, but before the matter was completed L'efer was taken ill and confined to his room. Priiiec George immediately organised a court from among his under-world companions and drove to the palace in state. A banquet was spread, ribald toasts were drunk, the national hymn was played and ribald words sung to it. Then the Prince, charmed with the new game, went into the throne room and granted audiences. He wore a red pasteboard crown and carried a wine bottle for a sceptre. All his subjects had to kiss his toe as they passed before him. Accurate accounts of these proceedings were brought to King Peter, who left his sick-bed and assembled a medical council, the result of which was that the blithe and merry George was at once placed in a sanitorium for the mentally deficient. While there he signed away his right to be his father's heir, and the King lost no time in having this document made binding and in transferring the title of Crown Prince to his second son, Alexander. Since then Prince George has been allowed to return to his home, but he is quiescent and apparently does not realise or does not care that he no longer has any claim to be ruler of Servia. Prince Alexander, who is several years younger than his brother, is a very grave and serious young man, fond of study and in every way an eminently dutiful son and heir. He is far better looking than his brother, and is an excellent sportsman, but there is no glamor of romance about him, and he has never achieved the popularity of the other Prince. Besides, Servia dearly loves a democrat, and George's hail-fellow-well-met air with his people delighted them, while Alexander is cold and haughty. The tradition that Prince George has been unjustly treated has spread among young Servians, and those who are being educated in England or who are there for other reasons have formed themselves into a sort of band pledged to loyalty to the ex-Crown Prince. They speak of him as the martyr and are in communication with those who keep In touch with him, so that they know how he is being treated. They do not believe in his reputed madness and think it is merely a ruse on the part of Peter and Alexander* Whether or not George knows of these ardent supporters is uncertain. At present he is on good terms with his father, with whom he goes riding and hunting, but he is always attended by two strong, sturdy men, who are very watchful of his slightest action, apparently on the lookout for any return of his former eccentricities.