THE EX-KAISER'S SISTER.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 February 1920, Page 5

THE EX-KAISER'S SISTER.

A CHEQUERED CAREER. 'W The recent death of the ex-Kaiaer'iM sister, Princess Charlotte of Meiningea.'fl did not come as a surprise to her friendtffl| in this Duchy (a correspondent wrote re»*fl oently from Baden Baden.) i 9 When she returned here at the beginVJ ning of the war it was noticeable thpnl she had greatly changed, and gave who came into contact with her the pression that she was a sad And dlsajvfl pointed woman. As a matter of fart war broke her heart. She was, one of the very few who realised that ilfl meant the downfall of the- German WxyM Now that she has gone it is interestingly to Tccall that in her early days of nafaH lied life she was very pretty, altholtglyfl it is said that before she became Princess of Meiningon she was by nofl moans a beauty. As a girl she and broUior Wilhelm were very much alike regards disposition. Neither of themfl cared to be dictated toi and although Duke of Saxe-Meiningen was anything® but attractive, she was glad totake faftafl for better or worse, in order to independence. •" The engagement. created a jtif at th«B time, as there 'were influential peOJilfjS who did not hesitate to say that Bhe'hlusfl lieon sacrificed. A$ a matter of fact, tl)«fl marriage v. as more or less arranged tyfl Charlotte herself, who had contrived tofl make the Duke promise, and then gone to her parents with the announce.* ment. The ui.ion, as all the w'oVWM knows, did not turn out a happy «ik|H but the Princess had got what she ftOidH desired—liberty and the right to' do She was a great favorite of her father, William 1., who frequently her dressmaker's bills, which he did for anyone else of his family. He placed at her disposal a suite of meats in the castle at She was a great flirt, and for many was one of the most prominent figures Berlin society, where, however, her of gossip gained for her a host of There lies, perhaps, the point which entitles the Princess special place in the gratitudfe of world. She found her brother out before anyone else had the slightest of the ambitious plans which he And she warned the world of the trophe about to fall upon it. At last she settled almost entirely Cannes, where she lived nine of twelve during the war. Thare | tried to forget she was a Prussian graj^H She hated militarism and its as did her father, the Emperor | and when once asked to eharaeterUa brother William, answered that he "non-commissioned officer in charge great nation." And no one who the ex-Kaiser will dispute this I of one who knew him better than aai^lt^H