The Washington herald., 1912-07-15
FOREIGN GOSSIP.

FOREIGN GOSSIP.
The simple English home" a little
country house which the German crown
prince is building on the Grunewald
Lake. near Potsdam. '.just for me, Cissy.
and the babies" has turned out to be a
veritable palace. costing a pot OF money.
and his extravaganza is provoking a
vigorous protest, because II had been
announced officially that all he wanted
for the comfort OF his folk was only a
little country house in pure English
style, with English gardens running down
to the lake shore and furnished in the
simplest architecture.
AS a matter Of fact, this simple, plain.
little country house is a palace of 500
feet frontage, bigger than the Emperor s
extensive gardens. fountains, and besides
a large covered lawn for the children to
play in on wet days. The crown prin-
cess. in her large suite of many cham
bers. boudoirs, and salons. has a fine
oriel window so constructed that she
can watch her little ones Al play either
in the covered garden or the big open
air Fairgrounds.
There will be three separate court
yards-ons surrounded by an Italian
patio In white marble and fioored with
tanbark for horseback exercise In wet
weathes.
Berlin newspaperdom giggles and grins
because the official description of the
new structure sent to them by the cham
berlaIn reads: The fullest allowance has
been made for future increases In the
crown princes family As a matter of
fact. there are to be permanent rooms
adapted exclusively to the earliest re-
Quirements OF infants.
The palace contains only one resem-
blsnoerto English architecture, namely. a
vast central hall II will have four mas
sive ancient chimney pieces. which were
bought by the crown prince In England.
and will be modelled exactly afte- tine
baronial halls In British castles of the
fifteenth century.
And now the Berlin press wants 10
know how much the Reichstag will he
asked to appropriate to this expensive
''palsis." But II is related In the West
End clubs and the Inter dsn Linden
cafes that Crown Princess Cecii,es -
ceedingly wealthy relatives of the grand
ducal house OF Mechlenburg hav. offered
TO bear the greater part of the cost. TIE
Kaiser has troubles of his own. He IS
a great spender. when It is needful 10
show imperial pomp. and his civil rst
German Emperor he has no steady fn-
come Besides, his expenses are enpr-
NOUS and he has to keep those OF his
sons for whom the kingdom makes onl7-
a small allowance or who are granted
no apsnage at all. Not to forget that the
Kaiser is building his new opera house.
which swallows several millions OF marks
of his revenue from his personf. pos
sessions
Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm may
be the heir to the ducal X and X crown
CKoeinglich and Kaiserlich), because of
the Salic law of primogeniture. but II
the truth must be told 1t is Prince Eitel-
Fritz who is the handsomest of the
Kaiser's children, and his favorite son.
The time has gone by in Prussia this
long while to regard royalty as purely
ornamental and when II was a great
surprise to see Princes or Princesses dis
play knowledge or skill in useful occu-
pations. Like in so many other reforms
the Prussian Hohenzollerns led in hav-
ing their offspring taught some useful
trade in addition to their military occu-
ration. 1t was only recently that the
Wife OF Prince Eitel-FritE has surprised
the Berliners by designing her husbands s
new stables and acting as overseer OF
lne HldsOnTN Inc
is a trained mechanic.
Queen Maud of Norway. youngest
daughter of the late King Edward Of
England. and Princess Victoria, her sis
ter. are clever bookbinders. Princess
Pat of Connaught has more than once
exhibited talented pictures in the Lon
don Amateur Art Society. The Kaiser's
only brother, Prince Heinrich, who vis-
tied this country, where he gained all
hearts by his geniality and democratic
tendencies as well as the German
Crown Prince. are inventors of some
note. to whom several patents have been
issued. Prince Eitel-Fritz also boasts of
an invention, for he holds a patent for
q new kind of a stud for shirt cuffs
Eitel-Fritz was the ideal beau
sabreur'' of the imperial family. At
twenty-five, when he married Duchess
Sophie Charlotte of Oldenburg. who is
four years his senior, both We're voted
the handsomest, most picturesque couple
at court. But all this is now changed.
He has grown very stout recently and
his health is poor. His many and oft
repeated absences from court have led
people to suppose that ne is suffering
from some chronic ailment. Rumor even
goes SO far as to assert that the much
DeioVed young prince mas inherited the
poor constitution of his grandfather, EN-
peror Friedrich. and perhaps also the
dreadful disease which took him on in
his prime.
Duchess Sophie brought great wealth
to her husband from the Oldenburg
house. The pair is childless, but, though
not occupied with cares of a domestic
nature, she does not care for society or
amusements. preferring life at Villa In
genheim, where she is happy in her
gardens or visiting the Orphan Home.
close at hand, whose poor little inmates
are wont to call their august patron
"auntie."
Prince Eitel Friedrich married in 1906.
just as all Europe was led to believe
that his choice would be Princess Ena of
Battenberg. now Queen of Spain. He
seemed to be greatly In love with the
British princess. but the Battenbergs
have but little in the way Of worldly
goods and Duchess Sophie was an