The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1899-04-08
DEsPOTISM OF HEADS OF ROYAL
HOUSES OVER FAMILIES.
Control Of Children Taken From
Their Parents Emperor Will
I iana's strictness Toward His Rela-
i. tives-Empress Fredericl<'s Hard
Fight Crow Princess stephanie's
I Gase In Question--Queen Victoria
and the Gear Autocratic Like the
Rest-Leaye OF Absence Necessary
to Travel.

OerS OIL Che1r own FANNY. In Ordinary
life man may be said to become his
own master when he attains his majority
and what are generally supposed to be
the years Of discretion; and in the same
way it may be assumed that a woman
secures freedom from parental control
when she marries This. however.:is not
the case with princes and princesses of
the blood. They remain throughout their
entire existence subject to the oft capri
cious commands of the head Of the reign
ing house to which they belong, and are
forced to submit to a degree of Deepen
dence and subserviency of which people
on this side Of the Atlantic can form no
conception. ~ ,-
One of the most intolerable features Of
this peculiar species Of tyranny is that
which deprives princes and princesses of
sovereign households Of the control Of
their children during the minority of the
latter. They have no legal right to d.
rect the education of their offspring, or
even to appoint the teachers and attend
ants Of the young people. 1t is the
head Of the reigning house in whom alone
is vested the absolute and exclusive right
to the custody and guardianship of all the
who may happen to be minors, NO mat
ter how remote their degree of relation
ship to the throne f.
Among those who are most jealous in
the exercise Of this prerogative are Queen
Victoria, Kaiser Wilhelm and the emperor
of Austria. In the case of the venera BILE
ruler of the British empire, says ''Ex-At-
tache'' in the New York Tribune, it is
difficult to find much objection to her
privilege. which she exercises not only
with affection and sympathy, but likewise
with all the wisdom and unrivaled ex-
perience of her fourscore years. She is
kept constantly informed of all that con-
who in most cases are her grandchildren,
or her great-grandchildren and the names
of prospective tutors and governesses,
Together with their quail ations, are al
ways submitted to her ma jesty before any
choice is made. OF course, this applies
only to those members of the royal fam
lily who are established in England. For
it is naturally the king of Greece who
has the supreme control of her great
grandchildren at Athens and the king of
Roumania who has the say in all that con-
Germs her great-grandchildren at Bucha-
rest, while it, of course, follows that she
has no voice in anything that affects her
Observation-Disclosures at St. Petersburg
and at Berlin. But her majesty's sway is
absolute with regard to the members of
her family who make their home in the
United Kingdom, and the duke and
duchess OF Connaught, for instance could
not enter their SON at Elton, nor could the
duchess of Albany remove her boy from,
/ that school, without having previously
obtained the sanction of the queen -
This is all very we'll in England, where
all the members of the reigning family
col 70 live
t1onate terms with one another, but it
is very different on the continent. Thus
at the court of Berlin the ideas of the
Empress Frederick and of her lamemted
husband on the subject of their children
were dramatically opposed to the some
what Anticipated views of the old kaiser,
who In these matters, as in others, was
subject to the influence of his chancel.
Tor, the late Prince Bismarck, the most
bitter enemy. personal as we'll as po
1ltical, Of "Unser Fritz" and particular.
~ OF his English consort. 1t was only
after endless discussion of the most acri
monious character that the crown prince
and crown princess, as they then were
were able to obtain permission from the
emperor to send their eldest son to take
his seat beside his future subjects in g
public school and at a Prussian university
the excellent effects of which course were
however, to a great extent impaired by
most OF the tutors and attendants witt
whom the old emperor, In compliance
with the advice of Bismarck, surrounded
his eldest grandson and r-presumptive
IN the same way the present kaiser
claims and insists upon exercising the right
OF controlling the education of all the
young princes and princesses of his house
young people with whose parents he
mas IN some cases quarreled to such an
extent that he is no longer on speaking
terms with them. He has even attempted
to extend this right to the junior members
of the families Of the other sovereign
rulers of the German empire taking the
ground that inasnnich "as they all at en-
early age receive, commissions in the Ger
man .army--usually ON their tenth birth.
day-he as commander-in-chief, IS emit.
tied to voice in the direction of their
training.
Then, too. the tutors, governors. gentle.
nen-in-waitinE. and. in fact. the mentors
OF the young princes, being invariably Of
hcers Of the German army. either. in active
service or forming part OF the reserve
forces, the kaiser argues that no one but
himself in his capacity as generalissimo,
has any right to select and assign them,
to the duty OF looking after the princes
OF the reigning houses Of Germany. no
matter whether they are members OF his
FAMILY or not. remember my attention
being drawn a couple of years ago to
the peculiar fact that the appointment of
A D. G. and equerry to young Prince
Alfred of Coburg had been made, not
Ky the lads father, the sovereign duke
Of Coburg. but by Emperor William It
may be added that while these pretensions
en- the part of the kaiser have been toll
Grated by some of the German courts,
they have been strongly resented by
others. notably by those of Bavaria and
OF Coburg. both Prince Louis Of Bavaria
and the duke of Coburg having with