Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1891-06-26
BARRIERS TO ROYALTY.
MEN WHO CUT THE HAIR OF THE
CROWNED HEADS OF EUROPE.

Reward to Cut the Cars Throat-His
Descendants Are Now Honored Tho
German Kaiser Is Changeable.
A despot should wear a full beard or
shave himself. No nihilist will ever get a
chance at the czar of Russia with a razor,
at least in the guise of a barber. The
autocrat has his whiskers carefully trim
med, but with scissors. Even this is treat
ed as a responsible and important function,
and Of the four "grand masters of the
court" as they are called, one always at
tends the czar when his majesty is under
the barber's care; not that any doubt is
felt as to the fidelity of the tonsorial artist.
The family Of Guelabovski have been
BARRIERS to the imperial house of Romanoff
from the timo of the Gar Paul. The first
of the name, Michael, was employed when
a youth in the palace at St. Petersburg,
and n of his occasional duties was to
shave the emperor. The mobiles who con-
spired the death of Paul offered the young
barber q reward that must have seemed
dazzling to him if he would cut the en-
peror's throat. Michael pretended TO
agree, but took the first opportunity to in
form the imperial chamberlain, Count
Troubetskoi.
The latter in vain, warned the weak
minded car of the conspiracy against his
life, and Paul, history tells, was murdered
in his bedchamber by the mobiles who had
plotted to destroy him. When Alexander
came to the throne be was reminded by
Count Troubetskoi of the fidelity of young
Michael, and in recognition of his devo-
ton to the imperial family, Alexander, by
u special decree, appointed Michael Guela-
bovski and his descendants to be BARRIERS
to the car and his household.
A ToNsoE1AL SPHINX.
Alexander was in the habit of being
shaved, and during his reign of a quarter
of a century he never hesitated to intrust
the task to Michael, whose grandson now
holds the place by right of descent. AZ
before stated, the Office is a good deal of Il
slnccurc with the present car, SO far as
shaving is concerned.
1t is the duty of the imperial barber to
attend his august master every morning
Immediately afte. the car has risen and
performed his additions for the purpose of
dressing his hair and beard. This is done
In the presence o! one of the grand masters
OF the court. 10 the outside world the
Michael Guelabovski of the present day is
a sphinx. He has never been known to re-
veal the secrets of the Romanoff toilet, or
whether he talks to his majesty or is occa-
s%ionally honored with a remark from the
lips whose utterances are to Russia like
the laws of the Modes and Persians.
1t is safe to presume, however, that
Michael c%ultivates the virtue of silence in
the imperial presence rs we'll rs out of it,
and that he never asks the car whether he
wants u shampoo or would like u little cos.
metic on his lnustache. Michael goes wher-
ever the car travels. and it is through the
occasional visits of the Russian autocrat
to his father-in-law at Copenhagen that
the BARRIERS personality is known to the
world, there being much less ceremony
and secrecy in the Danish palace than at
St. Petersburg.
The two former kuisers Of the German
empire both wore full boards. In Prussia
the barber has never been an official per-
sonage, the selection being intrusted to
the marshal of the house, at present the
Baron Won Lyncker. The aged Kaiser
William had q constant and faithful per-
sonal attendant in Ludwig Kanitz, the
son OF u Brandenburg peasant, who from
performing ordinary mental duties in the
palace grew to be the confidential servant
of the king and emperor. Kanitz was in
scperable from his master in war and
peace, md he could undoubtedly have given
memoirs to the world as interesting in
some respects as those of Bismarck.
The prolongation of the kaiser's life to a
great age was no doubt due largely to the
faithful ILLUSTRATIONS of this humble per-
sonagc, who never shared in the honors or
fame that crowned others less Intimately
associated with his master. Kanitz did
NOT Iona sI1ryivn tba orporor Go , AZ,
missed with a pension sufficient to support
him in comfort, but he soon died and was
buried in the churchyard of his native
village in Brandenburg.
1t is said that the present kaiser is
changeable as to BARRIERS, to whom he gives
more employment than his predecessors in
the empire. At present, strangely enough,
he is being shaved by an Alsatian, q man
whose nane is not known outside the
court, but who was for some time employed
in one of the leading barber shops of Berlin.
There the Alsatian attracted the attention
OF Count Stolberg, who recommended him
to the marshal of the house. AS he has at
tended to the kaiser for three months he is
supposed to give satisfaction. 1t is said,
however, that he has had at least four pre-
decessors, who have been relegated to
mental service in the palace.
IN THE AUSTRIAN COURT.
The kaiser has an extremely tender skin,
and as he insists on giving audience and
orders while being shaved, it takes Il clever
artist to escape drawing some of the
Hohenzollern blood. This is believed to
have been the trouble with the BARRIERS
who lost power.
The Austrian court does everything
magni6cently, and the toilet Of the en-
peror is presided over by the Chevalier de
Hacker, IL descendant of the noble general
who led the attack on the Turkish garrison
at Pesth in 1856, and whose posterity has
figured honorably in nearly every great
war in which Austria has since been en-
gagged. Even the barber, a term by which
he is never known, is a nobleman, the
Count du Faucon having been raised to
that title in order to qualify him for his
duties at the palace; for nc plebeian can lay
hands on the Austrian emperor.
The Count du Faucon is not u native of
Austria, but u Saxon by birth. He was
trained by the former imperial artist, who
was also a man of title, md he is said to be
one of the most expert of his trade in the
world Ho i- re ~, ~ n1oIas,n obi