The Washington herald., 1913-09-03


great ambition was to be an actress. Her
beauty, her perfection Of manner, her
large voice, tended to encourage her in
Iattaining her ideal. She secretly studied
the great playwrights at a late hour
when she was supposed to be in bed, and
Ishe, with her two sisters, Dagmar and
lThyra, arranged amateur theatricals,
alexandra always insisting upon playing
the part of the heroine. Being the eld-
est, her sisters surrendered the monop-
loly to her. She is said to have evinced
considerable talent, especially in charac-
4 Queen Louise of Denmark, found that
Alexandra was stealing the hours Of her
sleep studying Goethe and manifesting
more than an amateurish propensity for
the stage, she banished theatricals from
the castle. Instead of becoming one Of
the queens of the stage, she became
Queen of Great Britain.
From his very earliest childhood King
Georges great ambition was to be a
sailor. The fascination of sea life fired
his ambition, made all the greater by the
fact that he used to sit on his mothers
knee and listen to stories of the Vikings
J for hours. Before he was in his teens
he knew, from Queen Alexandra's lips,
the story of every big sea fight. Fuel
was also added to the fire OF the Kings
ambition by the Rev. W. Lake Anslow, a
rector OF Sandringham and naval in
structor to the Kings uncle, the Duke of
Edinburgh. Until the death of the Duke
OF Clarence, King George was able to
satisfy his ambition. though when he be-
came heir TO the throne his naval career
was cut short.
The youthful Prince OF Wales had a
very curious ambition when a boy.
Awed by the prowess Of the mounted
police at the second jubilee of Queen Vic
toria, he announced his intention of be-
coming policeman when he grew up, as
the soldiers he had watched at drill
seemed poor creatures in comparison. His
sreat ambition nowadays is to be a great
traveller, and to visit the British EN-
pire beyond the seas.
Princess Mary has one ambition.
which has been intensified by her
brothers recent ascent In an airship.
Aviators are the chief heroes of the
young princess, and she is credited
| with possessing framed pictures of all
the great English, German, French,
| and American flying men. She can
talk quite well about their achieve
| ments, the type of machine each favors.
their methods Of flying. and SO forth.
Her great ambition in King Edwards
lifetime was to drive a motor car,
and she begged her grandfather TO
allow her to drive one of his in
Windsor Forest. Certainly" was the
affable rejoinder; only you must
wait until We have had time to clear
the trees away"
Princess Christian of Schleswig-
Holstein. sister of King George, has
two ambitions, neither Of which she
has been able TO crafty. When she
was eighteen she was desirous of
taking up nursing as a profession, and
throughout her life nurses and their
training have been very near to her
heart. The princess has done more
for the nursing profession than any
other of the royal family.
Some years ago. when the Princess
Helene was staying at the seat OF
nobleman, the conversation turned
upon unsatisfied desires, and several
of those present explained how they
had often longed to do things that
they never seemed to have an op-
portunity OF doing. My greatest de-
sire in life.' she said, has always
been 10 ride through London on the
top of an omnibus and have a chat
with the driver"
Many royal persons have made
name for themselves in the literary
world, the most famous OF all being
Queen Elizabeth OF Roumania Gar
men SYLVIA. But IL Is not generally
known that the Crown Princess of
Germany was filled with a secret am
bition TO be known as an authoress.
Her exercise books, which should have |
been filled with figures and notes, con-
tanned verses and fairy tales, and /
when these were discovered a scold- |
ing generally followed. From time to |
time she sent her literary efforts un-
der an assumed name to various papers |
and magazines, but none of them ever I
were accepted. They would have been !
quickly enough had the publishers |
known who the anonymous sender was. |
Many rulers have attained their am
bitions. The Kaiser. for instance, has /
expressed the opinion that IL he were |
not the German ruler he would like .
to be at the head of an army. Well. J
he is. King Alfonso is more modest.
been a captain in the army had he not !
been a king. The King of Sweden's
desire is to be a frst-class tennis
player. When he was Crown Prince
he was constantly playing in the COW
cred courts of the Crown Prince Club,
in Idrotts Park, Stockholm. The good
game he plays che is of extraordinary
height) is not to be wondered at, see
ing that he has been coached by the
famous Haggett formerly of the
Queens Club. London. and has played
with some Of the best-known expo
nents of the game. among them Fla
veIle and Ritchie, and with Bostrom
and Setterwall. the latter pair the
best Swedish players OF lawn tennis.
Christian Y, King of Denmark, prob
ably would have been a pilot had he
not been a king. He has a fine knowl-
edge of the sea, as becomes the ruler of