ROYAL LOVE TRAGEDY.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 1209, 26 November 1919, Page 3

ROYAL LOVE TRAGEDY.

SECRET OP CZAE'S DAUGHTEB. DIES WITH HER. WOOED BT A PRINCE. The tragic love story of the Russian Grand Duchess Olga, "who met a terrible death at the hands of Bolshevik soldiers, form one of the greatest Royal love romances of all time. The lady was the beautiful daughter of the late Czar, and, had she chosen, might have been alive to-day as Quccn-Kc-gent of tho new Serbia -which h;s arisen, phoenix-like, from the ashes of the old. l'riuee Alexander of Serbia loved Olga. and sought her hand. The Czar left it for her to decide. What was Olgu" s reply? Did she say 'No' to the wooing of Alexander? Or did she say 'Yes,' and* the world war, which broke out six mouths afterwards, came to defer the wedding to what they thought would be a happier time!

Out of the ruck of :ho war and the ruin of dynasties comes this luve story, writes Mr William G. Shepherd, the well-known correspondent, in a n.ossage from The Hague. It is not often that a Royal love story is told as fully as this one. All of Crown Prince Alexander's side of the story is fo-md ; n an official record which, lias ju.-t come to light in Holland. Olga'a side has perished with her and with her family. A grey-haired, grey-whisker-ed old .Serbian statesman, who was Premier of Serbia in 1912, travelled to Russia to talk to the Czar about Alexander's love for Olga. He was Pashitch, a lending statesman of Europe. The visit was made at Petrograd en February 2, 1911, six month* bci ore the European war broke out. For half an hour Pashitch talked to tho Czar about the Balkan situation. The Czar, Hi tie knowing what tho greybearded old Serbian had in his mind. entered enthusiastically." into the ilis■••tfsion, criticising Austria, MonterVgn>, Ferdinand of Bulgaria, and expressing his love for Serbia and the need of friendship with Greece. Then Pashitch told of Alexander's love story to the Czar. I am able from Bogitsheviek'a book, 'Cause cC the War.' to give Pashitch'a report as he wrote ir himsolf:—'Thereupon I inferred to the matter of the marriage of our heir to the throne in the following words:—"J pray your Majesty may graciously permit mo, to propose a wish and a request of oar King, and not to be angry if Ido so. - ' ' Pashitch Becmej to realise that he was asking on behalt' of the Crown Prince of a tiny country—Crown Prince by virtue of assassination—the hand of the most beautiful maiden of one of the greatest Courts of Europe. 'Our King,' ho continued, 'wished to marry his son to one of the Grand Duchesses. 5 The Czar— so runs tho report of Pashitch — replied, smiling, that he was not at all ill-disposed to the r.:-q test of the King, and it was quite a proper one. His principle, however, was to permit his children to decide matters of tho heart for themselves, and he did not wish to influence them in their choice of future life-partners. The Czar said he found Crown Prince •quite smart.' 'He did not boast about his war experiences.' 1 thereupon i hanked him and promised to tell no one, not even the King, what the Czar had told me. Only the Crown Prince w »s to know of it. The Czar .-aid that the Crown Prince hud not mentioned tho matter when he wus visiting there, to which I answered that he feared a refusal. So ends the oiiicial story of Pashitch. The beautiful Olga is dead. Perhaps to this day only Fashieth and the voting Prince Alexander know; whether Ol'ga :;aid. yea or nay.