, 1880-08-28
THE KING OF DENMARK ON 1.-THE
DEFENCE OF HIS COUNTRY

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fl there be a Sovereign in these prosaic
days who deserves the name OF being a
"Chevalier sans peur ct sans reproche" surely
it is the King of Denmark, Christian TX,
the father of THE Apple of our Eye (''The
apple does not fall far from the old tree,
says the Danish proverb). of the future
Empress of All the Russias, and of the
young King of Greece, who has just left us.
It was certainly not sung at the cradle
of the present King of the small but gallant
and honest Danish nation that he should
ever be the founder of two dynasties-the
Danish and Greek--and become the grand
father of the future rulers of one.third OF
the civilized world. A cadet of a princely
but mediatised family, His Majesty was
born at the Castle of Glicksborg. in Sles-
being the Duke Frederick of Slesvig
Holstein- Sunderborg Glticksborg, and his
mother tho Landgravine Louise OF Hesse
Cassel. Being a second son, not even the
slight territorial properties belonging to
the ducal family reverted to him, and His
Majesty could. therefore, only look forward
eat the utmost to some honorary c%Olonelcy
in the Danish or Prussian army. HIS
youth was passed like that Of most young
princes in his position. A couple of years
he spent as a gay student at Bonn but
when he was twenty-One, a most brilliant
Career appeared Cor O. fow months to he
reserved for the young prince. 1t was in
1889, when the bestowal of Queen Victo.
ria's hand was in question. and it is | dare
say, quite unknown, or at all events en-
tirely forgotten, that the handsome young
Prince at one time stood a very good
chance of being Prince Consort of England.
However, this was not to be ; and instead
of being the father of the future King of
Great Britain, it was his destiny to be the
grandfather of a future King of England,
a future Emperor of Russia, the father OF
the Greek dynasty, and himself a SOve-
reign. True it is that DhOmme propose,
mails Dieu dispose"
When it was evident that the dynasty
of O~ldenburgh, which had reigned in Den
mark more than four hundred years, would
become extinct on the male side by the
death Of the late King Frederik VII, a
Bill was passed appointing Prince Chris
tian of Glicksborg who on the Goth of May
1912, had married the Danish Princess
Louisel heir to the Grown, under the title
of Prince Christian of Denmark, and on
the 10Th of November 1868. he assembled
the throne. Simultaneously, Prussia and
Austria invaded Denmark, and finally
robbed the country of the three duchies.
Holstein, Lauenburg. and Slesvio. At
lit Clul6 LILO Alug WAS oAIIouSiy uupOpu
lar, 80 much so that he was actually in
suited in the streets, while the mob,
melted by the very etiquette so-called
National Liherals-who by their arrogance,
had provoked the war, covered the car
rage of the Queen with. mud in fact,
there was even a conspiracy to proclaim
the present King Of Sweden, then Prince
Oscar, King Of Denmark; but King
Christian, acting ON his motto fall Danish
Kings on ascending the throne have to
choose q mottol, .'By the aid of God, for
my honour and my rights. safe
ly weathered the storm, has gradually
known how TO earn the love, and above all
the genuine respect of his subjects, and is
undoubtedly the most popular King Den
mark has had since Christian ~, who
died 230 years ago. .
The King has the happy gift of always
being ready with an answer, even at awk-
ward moments. Being once told by q
p~lainspeaking peasant that after all he
was q l..German Prince, the King at once
replied that HE was born in Slesvig, and
was sorry 10 hear a Dane call: Blesvig q
German coun,ry.p The Kings conduct
during the first very trying years of his
government was above all praise-lOyal
unselfsh, and thoroughly constitutional
and The nickname flor the Danes continue
the old fashion of giving their Kings
sobriqaets] by which he will go down TO