The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-07-28
POTENTATES AMUSE LONDON.
Whims and Outbur~ts Of Temper
Often EmbaFrass Their Guides.

From . Foreign Exchange.
When a foreign potentate or royalty
of minor rank visits London for the
first time a clerk from the Foreign
ment to show him around" or. in
Official language. to act as the poten-
tate's visiting attache."
I have acted on several occasions
officially as guide. counselor and friend
TO q number of minor foreign royal
personages. and when doing so have
had some rather amusing experiences.
acted as attache to Prince Lidj
Eyassau. Of the Abyssinian royal fam
lily, when he came to London some
years ago. He was rather an awk-
ward sort Of person to have to take
charge of. He had a habit when he
went into a shop OF picking up things
to look at, and II they did not take
his fancy. of dropping them to the
ground in the most lordly and disdain-
full manner.
On one occasion We went into a deal
er's shop in Bond Street, where he
took up an old Dresden vase. and.
after looking at II critically for few
minutes, threw II to the ground. /
made a frantic but unavailing effort
to catch it. The prince had subse-
quently to pay 1900 TO the dealer for
tie vase.
I Another gentleman I had the honor
Of escorting about London for a couple
of weeks was the Sultan of Oran. /
went with him to a dinner party one
night given at one of the embassies.
All went wei until the end Of the din
ner whea the ambassador and his wife
rose from the table. The chief guest
then suddenly hit the table a resound-
ing blow with his fist, and shouted out
III 1t i've n J
his eyes appeared to blaze with anger
as he glared first at his host and host
ess and then at their guests No one
seemed to know quite what to do.
Then, in a low undertone, the Sui
tan explained to me in French he was
endeavoring 10 thank his host for his
hospitality, and the incident ended
happily.
Occasionally minor foreign poten-
tates who come here neglect to make
proper arrangements about having
money advised to them from their ma
tive country TO London, and. as a re-
suit, find themselves IN considerable
financial embarrassments when they
get here.
Some years ago a prince OF the
reigning family of a minor European
state arrived in London for short
visit without a penny.
The attache, however. who was COM
missioned to look after him. brought
a pawnbroker to the hotel where the
prince was staying. who advanced him
Il 900 on the princes jewels. which
lasted the prince until he obtained
money from his own country, fortu-
nately only a few days later.
One of the most amusing incidents
I remember in connection with my ex-
periences as a visiting .attache was
when I took the Crown Prince of Siam
to a great society bazaar. The prince
evidently did not understand. though
I tried TO explain to him. that the
ladies' selling at the bazaar were per-
sons OF high rank.
A few minutes after he entered the
bazaar several great ladies approached
him, asking him to buy some of their
wares. One Of these was a duchess.
Tell these women to kneel when they
address me-" he said to me in broken
French. The ladies. who understood
him. promptly did SO, and succeeded
in taking about ESQ of the prince be-
fore they rose. Nothing on earth
could, however. convince the crown
prince Of the high rank Of the sales
women.