The St. Johns herald., 1892-04-21
NEARLY A KING.
The Eventful Careek of the Duke
 of Cambridge.
Adrift in the World Alter Narrowly Miss Ing Two Throncs-The Most Thor Oughly English Member of
 the Royal Family.

bridge. But it happened so long ago, says the Chicago Journal, that nobody thinks of that bluff, burly soldier Gs ever having been possible successor to the throne. Yet it was only the slcn- derest of chances that prevented him from being George ", by the grace of God, king of Great Britain and Ireland, defender of the Faith, and the rest of it.
 The duke of Kent left an only child "a girl-in delicate health. Besides that girl there only remained, of all the progeny of George III, his youngest son, the duke of Cambridge, who had made lawful marriage and had one son and two daughters. If that girl had died, or had no children. the suc- cession must have gone to the Cam bridges. As it was she aScended the throne as Queen Victoria, married i'm mediately afterward. had nine chil dren and now has hosts of Crandchil- dren and half dozen great-grandchil dren.
 1t was in the city of Hanover that Prince George Frederick, the present duke of Cambridge, was born on the 26th of March, 1919, just two months before the princess Victoria of Kent. now queen and empress. Even afecr his chance of becoming king of Eng land had vanished, it looked as if he would surely be king of Hanover; for the duke of Cumberland had only one child-a boy, who became totally blind.
 That blind boy, however, lived to be king of Hanover, the last king probably that Hanover will ever have, for he sided with Austria in the war of 1866, and at the peace, Bismarck, while lcav- ing the Austrian territory intact, an- nexed Hanover to Prussia and drove the king into exile. He dicdbrol1en-hcarted and his son is simple duke of Cumber- land once more.
 The duke of Cambridge having thus narrowly missed two thrones, found himself at large in the world, without any prospects to speak of. His father died poor and his mother had all she could do to make both ends meet. One of the daughters married the grand duke of Mecl1lenburgStrelitz and be- came a very great lady indeed, but the other, the princess Mary, remained with her mother and brother in the oid- fashioned ivy-covered cottage on Kew Green, a favorite residence of George III., which had been provided for them by the queens kindness.
 There they lived the life of typical genteel English family of limited means, beloved by all their neighbors, especially the poor, attending service regularly at the old church on the green, teaching the parish children and growing into the affections and institu- tions of the place, as if they belonged to it as much as the moss of the walls of the ancient elms that had waved over it for centuries.
 It was this early home life that made the duke of Cambridge what he is-thc most thoroughly English of all the royal family, though born in foreign country and altogether foreign on his mothers side. He came into his title on the death of his father in 1850, but long before then he had chosen dis tinguishcd career. He entered the army in 1887, when only eighteen, with the rank of colonel, in accordance with the system of favoritism which then existed, and was made major general on succeeding to the dulSedom, but it was the Crimean war in 1854 that gaye him his opportunity.
 He begged to be allowed to be real soldier, and by the direct influence of the queen he was promoted to heuten- ant general and placed in command of a division of the army, consisting of the brigade of guards and the brigade of Highlanders. There was naturally good deal of feeling against him. and if he had made mess of it or disgraced himself in any way there would have been howl of triumph among the enemies of royalty, and even a great many people who were not enemies of royalty would not have been sorry to see favoritism so signally rebuked.
 The duke, however, knew very we'll what he was about, and his conduct at the Alma gained for him not only the enthusiastic confidence of his men, but also the respect of the oldest officers in the army, who had laughed at the idea of royal duke leading division be- fore.
 In the still more terrible conflict of Inkerman he led the guards again, and, his horse being shot under him in the midst of hailstorm of bullets, he would assuredly have been killed but for tho bravery and devotion of private sol dier, who defended him from the Rus sian bayonets until another horse Was brought.
 Just at this glorious period in his career the duke met with q misfortune which all the royal family felt bitterly. He was seized by camp fever, and the doctors insisted on his leaving the Crimea by the first transport. The duke well knowing what handle it would give to his detractors if he re- tired in the very agony of the war, stopped at Coasta4ti4e sie a4la lay tller'c for weeks, battling with sickness, in the hope ofsbs big able e return to lis commnndS lis eonlitiea. however, be- came 50 alarming that he was impcra- lively ordered home, and So had no share in the subsequent suifcrinGs and rlories of his corps or ia the croVnipcr