The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-01-23
FOR ROYAL. ENGLISH CHILDREN Boys Trained for Profession Like COmmOners' Children TERROR OF FAMILY Prince John, the Youngest, Is Regu- lar Scapegrace-Prefers Royal
 Stables to the Draw
 ing Rooms
By JOHN SCOTT

| London, January 1S.-(Specia11 1-The | recent accident to the King which at | first was thought to be more serious than it turned out, combined with the | presence of the Prince of Wales, the immediate heir to the throne, at the | front, has set English people talking and wondering about the character of the other royal children who are in the | line of succession.
 Little is known about them by the | public for the reason that King George | and more particularly Queen Mary, | have adopted the deliberate policy of | Keeping them as much out of the lime light as possible. The Queen, who was | brought up simply herself, and in com | parative poverty, for the Tecks are | rot overburdened with wealth, and, of | course, no one ever foresaw that she | would one day be Queen consort of | England, has keen recollection of | the fact that she had a much better , time as a child than her cousins who | were in the immediate royal family, | and she determined at the beginning | that her chlNren should be burdened l as little as possible with the cares and | duties of royalty while their child i hood lasted. Even the Prince of Wales l was kept back to degree that many | of the Kings subjects thought was a | mistake, and the impression gained l ground that he was something of a { mo1lycoddle. That there was no ground l for that is shown by the way in which l the prince has performed his duties at the front and by the keenness of hisA desire to take a hand in everything | that is going on, regardless of the dan | ger. In fact, his insistence on being | In everything is causing good deal i of anxiety to the officers who are char ged with his safety.
 WALES PAINFULLY SHY
 There is no denying the fact, how ever, that the prince is painfully shy 1 and that he suffers acutely because of the publicity attaching to his position. | He has managed to overcome the ob- l vious symptoms of his shynesS and as l he is possessed of a good deal of what l the French call "charm," an inherit 1 ance from his grandfather, King Ed l ward, he gets along very well with all l the public duties which fall to his lot l Tt must not be supposed, however, that | he is in any sense deficient in courage | or even in the ordinary boyish love of | fun. His shyness is simply due to mod | esty. He doesn't like to be made fuss 1 of and he dislikes ceremonial lie IS | far happier with two three friends l of his own age, than at a ceremonial 1 function and he does not make friends | easily. One of the things which he l most dreaded before the war was the | neCeSSlCy OI IndkliS Slalc ihni AS oO | and I suspect he hailed the war with l joy because it postponed this neces- sity He is reported to have said that | the best thing about the war from his ] point of view was that it would relieve | him from the necessity or marrying 1otten German princess.
 If the Prince of Wales the Kings eldest
 son, is shy, however, his youngest brother Prince John, who is now 10 years Iold is the very opposite. Prince John IS 1.-the terror of the family and it is sald
 that even the King is afraid Of hlm. l Nurses and governesses have gwen up Tn despair the task of trying to control him and even his mother, who is a woman of more than ordinary determination, admits that John is problem. All this does not mean that John is anything worse than a healthy high spirited boy, who has no use for the fuss and feathers of royalty land doesn't see why he shouldn't have a good time like other boys of less exalted rank.
 I am told by one who is in close touch ] with the royal household that Johns fa- vorite playground is the royal stables, and i that he insists on making friends with the l stable boys and the children of the royal servants who live in the Royal News close l to Buckingham palace. He has acquired | from them terrible Cockney accent ] (which is the despair of his governesses, | but which highly amuses his ia ther. When 1 he is missing he can always be found in | the stables deep in discussion with the | groom on the mysteries of horsemanhip | pr perhaps exploring the interior of one l pf the royal motor cars under the direc-
 tion of one of the chauffeurs. On one oc-
 passion recently he was found in a suit of
 blue overalls, which he had borrowed
 From boy helper in the royal garage.
 with hands and face pentifully smeared
 with grease, and yielding a spanner. I hm told that he bitterly resented being
 taken home and washed and declared that when he grew up he intended to be mo-
 tor mechanic if his father would not allow
 him to be a groom. It is unlikely that either of these ambitions will be realized, but one of the officials of the household
 remarked after this exploit that if there
 were any Balkan thrones going begging 1 about 10 or F years from now. John would i be just the man for the job of managing 1 rather turbulent king dom.
 IS KINGS FAVORITE
 Next to John the member of the royal i
 family with the most decision of charac- l ter is Princess Mary, wh is IS. and who closely resembles her mother both in
 looks and character. Until John began