Waterbury evening Democrat., 1891-04-07
PRINCE BEATRICE"
The Petty Power of the Ruler of
 the Isle of Wight.
How queen victoria's Latest sOn-in-Law Obtained the Title of "ROyal HiRhness" Among the
 English Nobility.

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 Henry of Battenberg-"Prince Beat rice," as he is too familiarly called has been slow and hardly won, says a London correspondent of the New
 York Tribune. At the outset his lot was not a happy one. The marriage was never popular with any class in England, much the reverse at court,
 where nobles of ancient lineage found themselves obliged to give precedence to a German princelng. The queen suffered the match on the understand
 ing that Princess Beatrice, the homo companion of her later years, should not
 permit the marriage to make any diff ference in her daily habits. She must live as heretofore, with her mother,
 and as there was a husband, why, he
 must live there, too. This was state of things bad enough when the queens residence was fixed in England. But
 when the queen went abroad and the
 bridegroom travelled in her train, the
 humiliation of the situation became un-
 bearable. By one of her earliest favors the queen ordered that Prince Henry should be styled royal highness, rank
 to which he has no more claim than
 had the late John Brown. In England,
 of course, the queens wish in this re-
 spect is law; but abroad, more particu- larly in Germany, her edict is as the
 idle winds. Prince Henry cannot be received at any continental court on
 the footing of royal highness, and as
 to drop it temporarily would be an af-
 front to the queen all kinds of ma
 neuvers have been resorted to to keep
 matters with some appearance of
 straightness. A little more than twelve
 months ago, after several years of home
 happiness, Prince Henry struck. For years he had not been permitted to range at will beyond the length of the mater
 nal apron string. There arc wicked stories told at London dinner tables of how "Prince Beatrice" going down to Portsmouth, in obedience to orders, to join the family circle at Osborne, has taken advantage of the merest indica-
 tion of mist on the Solent, boldly called
 it a fog, protested the impossibility of
 crossing, hurried back to London, and spent one cheerful night in mitigation
 of his monotonous home happiness. It
 was in the spring of last year, the young mans fancy lightly turning to thoughts of freedom, that he boldly set
 out alone on a yachting trip to the Medi- terranean, and, while all the world wondered, stayed away from Windsor
 and Osborne for the full space of two months. Under whatever circum- stances this trip was arranged whether, as was whispered in court circles, he had desperately bolted, and from the safety of Leghorn harbor had dictated terms of his return, or whether, as is much more probable, the whole trip was arranged and paid for by the queen, in kindly contest with the prince's protestatlon that he would
 much rather quietly remain at home it certainly marked an epoch in his career. Since he came back he has as- | stunned a much more independent, even
 a leading, position, in the royal circle. The queen consults him on most points
 and defers to him on many. She even braves for his sake the embarrassment
 of her ministers and threatened out break of popular anger.
 This arose in connection with the re-
 vival of Prince Henry's favor of the
 ancient and long-disused title of gov- ernor and captain of the Isle of Wight. Whom the proposal was broached it was pointed out that the Isle of Wight had for centuries got on well without gov l ernor and captain; that to revive the l ancient title in favor of a foreigner
 would be particularly invidious, and
 that such an appointment would be an
 affront to the lord lieutenant of the
 neighboring county of Hants, who
 represents the queen in the island. The queen persisted. The German prince
 ling now bears the fine old English
 title of governor and captain of the Isle
 of Wight, and amuses himself by malz-
 ing little tours in semi-state over the
 hlliputian territory, opening bazars,
 laying the foundation-stones of Sunday 1 schools and distributing prizes.