ROYAL LOVE STORY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 244, 12 October 1907, Page 13

ROYAL LOVE STORY.

NAPOLEON UI. AND A FAMOUS ENGLISH BEAUTY. By the death at Chesney, near Versailles, of the Comte de Bechevet, one of the most enthralling of the many love romances which distinguished the Second Empire is recalled. The late count was a son of the famous English beauty, Miss Howard, afterwards Comtesse de Beauregard, and he was believed by many to be the son of Napoleon 111., who certainly made him a count. There is some doubt as to what Miss Howard's real name was. In her death certificate it is given as Elizabeth Anne Haryett, but it is suggested that it may have been Hargetet. However that may be, all opinions are agreed that she was a supremely beautiful woman. Her house in London was the resort of fashionable men like the Duke of Beaufort, the Earl of Chesterfield, the Earl of Malmsbury, and Count d'Orsay. It was there that Prince Napoleon, a poor adventurer, met her, and became enamoured of her. She was wealthy, and assisted him with her purse during his later years in London. After the Revolution of 184S Napoleon went to Paris, and she followed him. When he had been elected President of the Republic, a neat little house was rented for her in the Rue dv Cirque, close to the Elysee Palace, Napoleon's residence. EMPEEOR'S FAVOURITE. When he became Emperor, she clung to him tighter than ever—too tight to please him. But he had been fond of her; he was easy-going, and she undoubtedly had documents and letters of which she might have made awkward use. So, in spite of the hostile critics, rooms were provided for her at St. Clond. She accompanied Napoleon 111. on his official journeys, - demanding a conspicuous place for her carriage at reviews, and appearing exquisitely dressed and ravish—gty : beautiful at the Emperor's earlier entertainments at the Tuileries. When he decided to marry Mdlle. de Montijo (now the ex-Empress Eugenic) there were some furious scenes with Miss Howard. To repay her loans and to purchase her silence, the Emperor gave her the chateau of Beauregard and the title of comtesse; but she never really forgave Napoleon for his desertion, and she so violently . denounced him in private that the secret , police entered her rooms, and ransacked tnem from top to bottom for compromts- , ing documents. In 1565 the Emperor created her son, Martin Howard, Count de Bechevet, the new title being due to the protests of the ancient family of Beauregard, who strongly . objected to their name being conferred on Miss Howard. ' It was grenerally believed' that the Count de Bechevet was Napoleon lll.'s son. _