"THE PRINCE SPY."

Auckland Star, Volume 55, Issue 12, 15 January 1924, Page 8

"THE PRINCE SPY."

UNHAPPY PRINCESS OF PLESS. RASCAL HUSBAND'S RECORD. Major Cornwallis-West (it is cabled), brother of the Princess of Pless, whose husband is seeking a divorce on -the ground of nullity, stigmatises as scandalous and untrue the Prince's statement that his wife's father forced him to marry her at the point of the pistolThe Comwallis-Wests have been, to say the least, unfortunate in matrimony- Mrs. Cornwallis - West, the mother of the Princess, was a woman of wonderful beauty- She hatl two daughters and a son, and they inherited their mother's marvellous gooel looks. One of the daughters married the Duke of Westminster, and divorced him- The second daughter became Princess Henry of Pless. The son married the widow of the late Lord Randolph Churchill, and she divorced him. At the time of her marriage with the' ex - Kaiser's brother, Miss Cornwallis - West was generally regarded as the most beautiful girl in England- The Prince was popular- A few years later the Great War broke out. A Spy in England. In October, 1915. Baron Beyncs, the Belgian Ambassador in Berlin immediately before the war, published a startling book on pre-war conditions, and in this he stated that Prince Henry of Pless played the spy in England, and betrayed the kindly hospitality extended to him on innumerable occasions by tho British Court and people- The Baron wrote: — " Prince Henry's relationship with the British Royal family supplied him with a pretext for frequent visits to the neighbouring island. There he learnt the strong and weak points of the British Navy, which he was preparing (to fight one* day, and all the time he was seeking the opportunity of torpedoing their ships, and destroying their naval supremacy- All his efforts were directed towards the preparations for a war (with England), which he himself regarded as very near at hand" In July, 1921, a notable book was published. " Our Prince," by Kdward Legge- He exprcssse the opinion that the present Prince of Wales " has in him the stuff of which a Bayard is made —the heart of a Sielney.'' Mr. Wells had referred to the Empire tour of the Prince of Wales .as " constituting a propaganda of inanity unparalleled in the world's history." The object of Mr. Legge's book was partly to " overtake Mr. Wells' fiction," anel to set out what he calls " the true truth" about the Prince of Wales as a lighting man, and also as a speaker and thinker. Australian opinion in these matters is with Mr. Legge and not with Mr. WellsHowever, this is by the way. Completely Convicted. This same Mr. Legge has no doubt a predilection for princes and'peers, and is somewhat of a royaPbiographer. He wrote a good book about King Edward, and an interesting one about the Kaiser. In the "Pall Mall Gazette," in 1915, he reviewed Baron Beyens' work, and having given the statement quoted, commented thus: "That is gospel truth, and what is true of this odious Prince spy is equally true of his brother, the Kaiser." Confession of Perfidy. .It will be remembered that shortly before the war Prince Lichnowsky was sent to London by the Kaiser as a figure head to lull all British suspicions, and to persuade the British Government of the peaceful nature of Germany's intentions. An honest man himself, he honestly set about making his mission a success, only to find that tho real aims of his principals at Berlin were something totally different, and that they were bent on a Continental war, from which they hoped that Great Britain could ho induced to stand aside at the price of her honour. "My London mission was wrecked," writes Prince Lichnowsky, "not by the perfidy of the British, but by the perfidy of our policy." It's all in that "the perfidy of our policy." and this perfidy included the despicable pre-war espionage of Prince Henry of Pless. He is only a degree less despicable than the Kaiser's favourite Englishman, Houston Stewart Chamberlain, who married.Wagner's daughter and became a traitor to his country, and was more Teuton than any Teuton. When Germany was still in search of . her national unity the celebrated Italian, Guiseppe Mazzini, wrote to some prominent Germans: "Gentlemen, the Fatherland can never be served by a call to the arms of dishonour." - Germany's position to-day shows that Mazzini was right. Free of a Rascal. If, now, Princess Pless is relieved of her rascal husband, it will doubtless be a happy release. The pistol story is, for sure, a lie—and like the man who played the part of a spy upon his hosts and the country that gave him the beautiful bride he betrayed. It is no secret that she did all that she could, consistently with her wifely duty, for wounded British soldiere during the war, as did also Evelyn, Princess Blucher.