THE FUTURE KAISER THE CROWN PRINCE AND HIS BROTHERS

In a country where the supreme power swings between the Emperor and the impersonal General Staff, all are interested, since even an Emperor is mortal, in learning something about the heir who succeeds in case of death. And we who face with the rest of the world the forces of Kaiserism desire to know about this heir.

The Crown Prince is about five feet nine, blond and slim. In fact, one of his weaknesses is his pride in an undeniably small waist which he pinches and his characteristic pose is with one foot thrown forward and one hand at the waist, elbow out and waist pressed in. He is well built, his face much better looking than his photographs show, nose rather long and eyes very keen and observing. Possessed of a great youthfulness of manner and a boyish liveliness and interest in life, his traits are somewhat American rather than German. He is a good sportsman and excels at many sports, is proud of his trophies but not afraid to meet other men in contest for them.

His manners are open and engaging and because of this he is very popular in Germany. Unlike his father on whom a pretty woman makes no impression whatever, he is a great admirer of female beauty, so much so that when he is playing tennis, for example, if there is a good looking girl watching he can hardly keep his eye on the game. This weakness for the feminine has been the foundation for countless stories linking his name with that of various women, in all countries and of all classes of life, but personally, I think these rumours are untrue and that he is fond of his lovely wife, who is not in the least disturbed by his frank and open admiration of other members of the fair sex. A brood of strong, good-looking children have been born to the Crown Prince and Crown Princess.

A Prince so fond of a good time, one who loves dancing and racing, hunting and shooting, with a shrewd eye and cool head, might make an ideal king, but the one dark shadow in the background is the Crown Prince’s real love for war. From his seat in the Royal Box in the Reichstag, he has applauded violently and ostentatiously utterances looking toward war: he had made himself the head of the war party, and the Militarists look to him as their chief. The great danger is that if this war ends in the defeat of Germany without the democratisation of Germany then the Crown Prince will lead the party of revenge, of preparation for war, and if the war ends in what the Germans can call a success or ends in a draw (which means German success) then the Crown Prince and the Militarists, crying that the military system has been justified, will seek new excuses to enter once more on a war of conquest. All paths or speculations turn to one gate; if the German people continue slavishly to leave the power to drive them into war in the hands of the Crown Prince, or the Emperor, or the General Staff, there will be no prospect of such a world peace as can justify a universal disarmament. Absolute monarchs and Emperors and Crown Princes and their attendant nobles, all spell war. They are the products of war and they can only continue to rule if the desire for war animates their people.

While the Crown Prince has not set himself in direct opposition to his father or at any rate taken a part in public affairs with the view either to force his father’s hand or take a dominant political part, nevertheless he has allowed no occasion to pass when he could encourage the army and war party even if this brought him into conflict with the policy of the Emperor, and so there have been periods of coolness between the Emperor and the Crown Prince son.

Thus after one scene in the Reichstag when the Crown Prince applauded those in favour of aggression it was reported that he was banished to Dantzig. At any rate during the winter of 1913-14 the Crown Prince and his family were at Dantzig, the headquarters of the regiment he commands, the famous “Death’s Head Hussars.”

Some say that it is a tradition in the Hohenzollern family for the Crown Prince to appear to oppose the King. Then, when the King dies, the Crown Prince enjoys a certain popularity in the first years of his rule from those who have been against the Government, and by the time this popularity has waned the new ruler is firmly seated on the throne.

The Crown Prince, born in 1882, will be thirty-five in May next. His military education began long before he was ten years old. In accordance with Hohenzollern custom, on his tenth birthday, he became an officer of the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards and on this birthday was introduced to the other officers and took part in a regimental dinner. Before this great event he had learned enough of military drill and usages to carry himself as an officer.

In 1895, he and his brother Eitel entered as cadets at Ploen in Schwerin, where they were subjected to very strict discipline. After leaving Ploen the Crown Prince entered Bonn University, and there became a member of the “Borussia” student corps.

I never heard that he took part in the corps duels. His face is not scarred, so I imagine as heir to the throne he was excused from a custom in which other corps members are compelled by public sentiment to take part. From photographs I have seen and from what I have heard I believe that the Crown Prince entered cheerfully into the student life of the place and lived on terms of college equality with his brothers of the “Borussia” corps. These corps members, however, hold themselves aloof from other students.

The Crown Prince attended the Technical High School of Charlottenburg, that large building just across the canal which separates Berlin from Charlottenburg. Here he gained some knowledge of machinery, chemistry, etc. In 1909, he went to work in the Ministry of the Interior, where he learned something of government administration, how to manage the constabulary and their activities, something quite necessary for an absolute ruler in a country where every citizen’s acts is noted in the copy books of the police.

Meantime, his military activities continued. He was gradually promoted and finally, in 1911, became Colonel in command of the Dantzig Black Hussars. This regiment owes its black uniform and white death’s heads to the thrift of Friedrich II who utilised the black funeral hangings at the elaborate funeral of his father to make uniforms for this regiment. It has been in existence about 175 years. The white death’s heads and bones which appeared in the funeral trappings were used to make ornaments for the front of the regimental headgear.

While stationed at Dantzig the Prince was taught agriculture so as to understand the needs of the Prussian Junkers. He even studied the methods of brewing beer in the Dantzig brewery. His education has been strenuous. He has not been coddled or spoiled and is far better fitted for the battle of life than most graduates of our colleges.

The father of the Crown Princess was a Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and her mother a Russian Grand Duchess. In appearance the Crown Princess is very attractive, her face rather Russian, with an expression of good nature and cleverness. Although the Crown Prince is tall (about five feet ten), the Crown Princess overtops him, and on occasions when they appear together she wears shoes with very low heels and keeps her head bowed.

The marriage took place in 1905 and was undoubtedly a love match, the young couple having met in 1904 and become devotedly attached to each other.

There is only one defect in the character of the Crown Prince and that is his fondness for war, his regard for war not as a horror, but as a necessity, an honourable and desirable state.

I have long been apprehensive that when he came to the throne the world might again be hurried into a universal conflict and that vast military preparations would burden every State.

The Crown Prince and I often talked over shooting in various parts of the world. He wishes to see America and especially to kill game in Alaska where the heavily horned heads and enormous bears make such magnificent trophies. When I told him once how my friend, Paul Rainey, had killed seventy-four lions in Africa he could talk of nothing else at that interview.

The Crown Prince has been pictured as a libertine and a pillager. His face has been caricatured so often that people have the cartooned impression of him and believe him to be a sort of monstrous idiot.

On the contrary, he is a good sport, a clever man, a charming companion, but the shadow of military ambition hangs over all and I doubt if the effect of his infernal military education, commencing when he was a child, can be entirely removed.

If some day he learns the idiocy of war, if he recognises that the world has progressed, and allows the people some share in their own government, he will make a splendid constitutional ruler of Prussia and the German Empire.

Should the German people fail to take unto themselves the war-making power, they will, before long, be decimated again for the amusement of the Crown Prince, or as he once put it, “for his fun.”

The favourite son of the Kaiser is presumed to be Prince Eitel Friedrich. A large, fat, healthy, good natured young man, married to the daughter of the Grand Duke of Oldenburg, a rather pretty but discontented looking Princess. It is said of him that he has shown not only great bravery in this war but real military capacity. Ridiculous scandals have been circulated about him in Berlin, but this is only the usual gossip circulated about persons in prominent positions.

Adalbert, the sailor Prince, is now married to a German Princess. He is the best looking of the Kaiser’s sons, possessing all the charm, and vivacity of manners of the Crown Prince, but is without that Prince’s absurd ideas about the necessity of war. Any one of those three sons of the Kaiser can give yards to any other young Royalty in Germany and win easily in capacity for administration and the King business.

Certainly if the German people insist on being ruled by some one and on being occasionally dragged out to be shot or maimed in an unnecessary war, they could not find more capable rulers than the Hohenzollerns.

Prince August Wilhelm is of a milder character. He, of course, wears the uniform of an officer, but has entered the civil service of the government. He is now a landrat or government official, and some day will be given charge of one of the provinces of Prussia such as Silesia or Posen. He is married to his first cousin, a niece of the Empress, the Princess Alexandria Victoria, daughter of H. H. Frederick Ferdinand, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Gluecksburg. They have one son, a fine healthy specimen. The August Wilhelms live very simply in a palace in the Wilhelmstrasse, very plainly furnished. They are fond of amusements, riding, theatres and dancing. August Wilhelm has none of that desire of war so characteristic of the Crown Prince.

Of Princes Oscar and Joachim, little is known. Oscar, during the war, married Countess Bassewitz, who has been a Maid of Honour in the Palace. The marriage was of course morganatic, and on marrying the young Countess was given the title of Countess Ruppin. Her children will be Count and Countess Ruppin and cannot inherit in any contingency, the Kingdom of Prussia.

Adalbert had no resting place in Berlin, but perhaps now that he is married a palace may be assigned to him. Eitel Fritz and his wife occupy the Bellevue Chateau between the Tiergarten and the River Spree. His wife is childless.

The Kaiser, the Crown Prince or some of the numerous Princes of Prussia are always rushing about the streets in motors, each one heralded by a blast on the cornet. Beside the chauffeur on each royal motor sits a horn player who plays the particular few notes of music assigned to that Prince. The Kaiser’s call goes well to the words fitted to it by the Berliners, “céleri salade” (celery salad) and has quite a cheerful sound.

On days of an outdoor function the streets ring with these calls as the royal automobiles whizz back and forth. It is forbidden by law for any one other than royalty to announce his coming by more than one note on a Gabriel horn, or other device. I do not know whether out of town or suburban royalties from Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Strelitz, Lippe, etc., are allowed this privilege when in Berlin; I think not, and that is perhaps one reason why they so consistently shun the capital of Prussia.

When the Kaiser motors to Potsdam he usually sits in one of three motors which travel very fast, one behind the other. I do not know whether this is by design or not, but of course, it makes an attempt on his life more difficult.

I used one of the Kaiser’s motors in occupied France a large Mercedes, run by a skilful driver at a great rate of speed.

The Crown Prince is especially fond of horses and if he succeeds to the throne will undoubtedly keep up the Royal stable or Marstall. This is situated on the bank of the Spree across the square from the Royal Schloss in Berlin. There are kept the carriages of state, those sent to bring Ambassadors to the Palace when they first present their letters, two hundred splendid saddle and driving horses, with modern carriages, four-in-hand coaches, dog carts, etc. Most of the Foreign Ambassadors use state carriages for great occasions, with bewigged coachmen and standing footmen. I think Ambassador White was the last American who indulged in the luxury of a state carriage. As a plain dress suit did not exactly fit with a Cinderella coach, I went to functions, such as the Emperor’s birthday reception, in a large automobile, retaining only of the former state the necessary body huntsman who acted as footman on these occasions and who wore a livery of hunting green, a cocked hat, with red, white and blue plumes and a long hunting dagger in his belt.

Out of consideration for the feelings of others I retained the porter in his old finery, a Berlin institution. At state dinners the porter of a Royalty or Ambassador stands at the house entrance, clad in a long coat, wearing a silver belt diagonally across his chest, and crowned by an enormous cocked hat worn sideways. The porter carries also a great silver headed staff, like a drum major’s baton, and when guests of particular importance arrive he pounds this stick three times on the pavement.

It used to amuse the Berlin crowd lining Unter den Linden to see the Ambassadors and Ministers leave the Palace or Cathedral on the Kaiser’s birthday, New Year’s day, etc., to see the state carriages of the other Ambassadors overtaken by the modern automobile from America.

The Berlin lower classes are renowned for their dry wit and they find much to amuse them in the tasteless statues and monuments of Berlin.

In the square outside our house was a statue of one of Friedrich the Great’s generals which seemed to afford the boys great fun. The General is shown in the act of reflectively feeling his chin and by chance is gazing uncertainly at the barber shop of the neighbouring hotel Kaiserhof.

Nobody knows, of course, whether the present Crown Prince will succeed Emperor William nobody knows the fortunes of war or the fate that this war has in store for the Hohenzollerns but while I personally like the Crown Prince, admire his skill in sports, his amiable ways, his smiles to the crowd, I know also of his crazy belief in war. And so long as a ruler persists in this, he is as dangerous to the peace of the world as a man with a plague to the health of a small community.