VANITYWhat remains of the 20 kingdoms on the continent, what happened to the kings and kings' representatives whoattended King Edward VII's funeral1? How swiftly time ran out for most of them? Within 3 years the King ofDenmark died2, and his brother, the King of the Hellenes fell before an assassin's bullet at Salonika3. The youngKing of Portugal was soon in exile in England4. Four years later, the Archduke Frans Ferdinand, heir apparentto the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and his wife, the Fürstin Hohenberg, were the victims of a double politicalmurder at Serajevo5. Before the convulsions unloosed by that insane act subsided, three great empires layshattered6; the German Emperor became a woodchopper at Doorn7. With defeat in war in 1918, the power of theremaining German Royal Houses disappeared almost overnight8. King Wilhelm and Queen Charlotte ofWurtemberg, Adolfus, Grandduke of Mecklemburgh-Streilitz and others.Kemal Ataturk, the Turkish Nationalist leader, who drove the Greek Army (Sept. 1922) out of Asia Minor andassumed virtual dictatorship, died of cirrhosis in 19389; Czar Boris III of Bulgaria died mysteriously in 194310;Yugoslavia's Alexander was assassinated in 193411; Prince Paul, Regent of Yugoslavia and King Peter for whomhe acted as Regent had both to flee into exile12. Spaniards died in a civil war (1936-1939); Edward VIII ofEngland abdicated13; Austria was absorbed into Germany in September 193814 and a slice of Czecho-Slovakiawas claimed by Hitler and actually handed over to him15. Kingdoms and countries vanished. Hitler was about toconquer Europe. Hitler is no more. The Nazi effort to dominate Europe has come and gone like a latter-daycomet16.Empires and kingdoms disappear: the Roman Empire has ceased to be17; so has the power of ancient Greece18.Who worries today about the once so powerful Portugese and Spanish and Dutch and French conquerors of far-off countries19? What happens to France today20? What to the once so mighty British empire, now the Bri...