Prince Max named as chancellor

October 3, 1918

Prince Max of Baden has been named Chancellor of the German empire, according to a Berlin newspaper, Zeitung am Mittag. The news that Prince Max was chosen as chancellor to succeed von Hertling was "viewed with some surprise" in Washington. It was known ten days ago that the prince had been offered the position, but turned it down after talking with the Grand Duke of Baden, "who thought the position beneath the dignity of a member of the royal house."

Former US ambassador to Germany, James Gerard, now in Los Angeles, described Prince Max as a "regular human being."
The ambassador recalled meeting Max in Berlin. "He is a man who knows English perfectly, and is one of the few high Germans who is able to think and act like a human being. He is a man of most charming appearance and manner, and indulgent of the views of other countries and civilizations, which no other German that I ever met, occupying an official position, was."
Ambassador noted that the Prince always carried a copy of Ralph Waldo Emerson's essays in his jacket pocket.
Prince Max is married to Princess Marie Louise of Cumberland. He apparently spent some time in a mental health facility in 1895 after being jilted by Grand Duchess Helen of Russia because of his "alleged philanderings."