Asturias Is Robust

Like Tsar Nicholas II's sickly little Tsarevitch, the Prince of the Asturias (Crown Prince of Spain) was afflicted from birth with haemophilia, a dread and supposedly incurable disease. When a haemophile receives even the slightest cut his wound heals so slowly that from the merest scratch he may bleed to death. The Prince of the Asturias, 23, suddenly appeared in Paris not only in apparent good health but palpably, impressively robust.

In the past two years rumors issuing from Spain have pictured Her Majesty Queen Victoria Eugenie as coming under the influence of a necromantic physician such as the notorious Rasputin. As doting Tsar Nicholas II fell under Rasputin's spell because he believed that the "Black Monk" and he alone could stop the bleeding of the Tsarevitch, so the Spanish Royal family were said by their enemies to be the dupes of a second charlatan. Spanish censorship veiled the facts.

In Paris last week a member of the Prince of the Asturias' suite explained: "The cure was nothing mystic, not even medical, it was merely exercise. As you know, his Royal Highness could scarcely walk two years ago. For fear that he might stumble and cut himself he was kept as much as possible in a sitting or recumbent position.

"The idea of a cure through progressive exercise was that of Dr. Gustavo Pittoluga [Italian-born but a naturalized Spaniard]. Perhaps you have not heard that out of gratitude he has recently been appointed Chief of the National Sanitation Department of Spain."

At a formal banquet tendered by the President of France last week Asturias walked in erect and smiling, chatted animatedly with Mm Doumergue and Briand and with Members cf the Corps Diplomatique. Every day thereafter he took moderately long walks in the Paris Bois. He then left for Switzerland to be put through a course of calisthenics at Bern.

At the French foreign office a significant remark was heard. "Mais out, they are parading His Royal Highness through Europe to prove to the various govern ments and peoples that he is really fit to succeed his father on the Spanish throne."

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