Seward daily gateway., 1925-02-07
SEEKERS OF THRONES
 CALL ON HIGH HEAVEN
 TO SUPPORT CLAIMS

COBURG, Germany, Feb. 6.-Mysti
 cism and the alleged manifestations of Heaven figure so extensively in the communiques of rival claimants for the Russian throne, a throne which no longer exists, that central and western Europe generally regard the family row of the Romanoffs as an uncanny and useless performance.
 Since his original manifesto declar- ing himself the rightful cZar of all the Russias, Grand Duke Cyril has re- mained silent in his Coburg villa, and there are indications that he and his supporters will keep the Russian court and it's doing well under cover because of the Communist efforts to have the self-styled sZar expelled from republican Germany.
 There is something so fatalistc and Asiatic in all the actions of the Ro- manoffs that liberalminded people of the west cannot take them serious ! ly. Even the aged Marie Feororovna, mother of the murdered Czar Nich- OaS, Danish princess though she be and sister of Alexandra, England's S queen dowager, sounds this same note. She has never believed her son is dead and, in denying the claims of all successors, especially of Grand Duke Cyril, she talks of the divine rights of rulers as if the world were plunged back into the Middle Ages.
 It is the hand of God" which nov ! ed Cyril to proclaim himself the rul- CT of all the Russias, if one is to be- lieye the statements of this Roman off, whose manifesto sounds no more modern than the documents of Ivan the Terrible His supporters, of whom his wife, who has recently been in the United States, seems to be far the most active, would have one believe it was divine providence which saved Cyril from drowning when his ship was destroyed in Pa cifc waters during the Russo-Japan- ese war that he might eventually take over the Russian throne.
 But the mouarchists among the Russian eziles who are supporting the claim Of Grand Duke Nicholas Nicholavitch, are not at all inclined 10 admit that divine providence ever had anything to do with Cyril and adduce scores Of reasons in their brochures why nobody should pay any attention to such a pretender. On the other hand they have proofs which are entirely satisfying to them that Heaven has designated Nicholas Nicholavtch to sit upon the throne which nearly everybody in the world except the old Russan monarchist, has forgotten.
 The old officials about the czar's court, and the fragments of Russian royalty, find it difficult to divorce themselves fro mthe idea of imperial Russia, and a few of them find their way to Grand Duke Cyril to talk things over.
 Cyril lives in a villa just across the street from the house that shelters ex-King Ferdinand of Bulgaria. In an old-fashioned market square in the center of the provincal town of 30.000, which still living back in pre-war days and is apparently in al most complete oblivion to the chang es the world has undergone iii the last Ii years, stands a statue of Prince Albert, the husband of the Late Queen Victoria, whose marriage to the English queen resulted in Saxe-Coburg Gotha becoming aligned with practically all the ruling famil- ies of Europe.
 There is reaction in the air at Co burg. Wakner is played at the opera and films from the Wagner operas are shown at the moving picture house. It is an ideal place for Cy- Til and Ferdinand and the rest of the dislodged royalty which has taken refuge here. here are few industries and consequently little to upset the medieval quiet of the well-intproved village above which hovers the Co., burg Veste, a magnifcen1 Gothic ior- tified castle which houses marvellous collections of arms and armor borne by German princes in the Crusades.
 Parsifal would be quite at home ln Coburg, if it were possible for the young knight to take on human forn There is a make-believe atmosphere about the place. It is unreal to visit ors from centers where the modern spirit prevails The big motor cars of ex-King Ferdinand and Grand Duke Cyril are the most discord- ant note These men should ride on armored horses if they wish to ir9 hoT