A SISTERHOOD OF WOE

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 82, 6 April 1918, Page 13

A SISTERHOOD OF WOE

THE QUEENS OF BELGIUM, RUMANIA AND ITALY. VALUABLE WORK DURING THE TRAGEDY OF DEFEAT. Three of the queens of Europe who, a few .brief years ago, seemed destined to spend their lives in domestic felicity, enjoying the affection of their subjects, are to-day plunged into direst tragedy, writes Mr. Temple Moore in tho "New York Tribune." To the Queens of Belgium and Rumania., whose countries have been crushed under the heel of the invader, is added a third, Queen Elena of Italy. Queen Elena has seen her native country invaded g,nd despoiled, her father, King Nicholas of Montenegro, an exile, those nearest to her by blood scattered and impoverished. And now she sees her adopted country, Italy, in the agony corresponding to that of Belgium and Rumania. Although confidence is hers that Italy will not suffer the fate of the two countries just mentioned, her anguish is no less great, for the enemy is on her soil. Queen Elena coiftinues to be the devoted mother of her growing daughters, and of her boy, the Crown Prince of Italy, the sustainer of King Victor Emmanuel and the guide and exemplar for the women of Italy. j The Princess Elena of . Montenegro was educated at the court of Emperor Nicholas of Russia. Since the day of her marriage, she has wielded a marked I influence over the heir to the Italian 1 throne, who became King' when his father was assassinated, seventeen years ago. The organization of the women of Italy for this • war is attributed in a large measure to the cnergv and activity of Queen Elena, and few women in Europe have been engaged in harder work since the war began. Her husband remains with the army at the front, taking only brief furlough every six months to Rome, but 'his wife visits him frequently and takes occasion to consult with those who are at the head of the Red Cross and other beneficent and charitable organizations. ELIZABETH OF BELGIUM. Queen Elizabeth of Belgium, the first Queen, of Europe to suffer from the awful tragedy of the devastation of her country by a brutal foe, has shared with her husband, King Albert, the distinction of being tho most conspicuous and admirable of all the royal figures in the course of the great war. Her devotion to Belgium, to its armies, to- its suffering people, has been of the most intense kind, and of the most self-sacrificing character, and her energies in serving the cause of the Allies has brought to her decorations from France, England, Russia and Italy, and has worn for her the love of the people of all those countries. And yet Queen. Elizabeth is a member of the royal house of .Bavaria, and she is a close relative of mainy of those who are -. fighting in the; Teuton -armies. No one. to-day sfs • njdre sincere than the Queen of Belgium in the effort to see the armies of the Kaiser warred down and, Germany stricken to her knees. But an added sympathy for the Queen is- invariably forthcoming from the leaders on the side of the Allies on account of-the fact that at present she has to turn her back on .her paternal family and on all the traditions of her childhood. Queen Elizabeth is a Belgian and nothing else, and the war has produced few more glorious -figures. AEROPLANE HIT BY SHRAPNEL. She U6es the aeroplane by preference as h.r means of.transportation. and many have been the risks which she has undergone in moving around in this manner. An aeroplane in which' she recently flew from the Belgium section to that pari of the line occupied by the French northeast of Ypres was riddled with shrapnel bullets fired from anti-aircraft gun 6by the Germans, and one of the wings ol the machine was so hadlv damaged thaf it was with extreme difficulty that the aviator succeeded in volplaning safely tc the ground. Her life has been more than once ir danger, and one of the most iniquitous crimes committed by the Germans to the deliberate bombing of the estate which the King and Queen of Bclaimr were then occupying with their children This "palace" as it is called, is locate, near the little village of La Panne, withir Belgian territory, but the title "palace' is a euphemism, for the residence wa< nothing more than an humble cottage where the royal family lived in utmossimplicity. German aviators had sue ceeded in locating it, and on tw< occasions they dropped incendiary an< asphyxiating bombs on it. The risk incurred by the royal couph and their family was 60 serious that th< children were sent to Ensland for bette safeguarding and the King and .Queei entered on a nomadic life. It is believe* that jealousy over the high reputatioi achieved by King Albert and Queen Eliza beth has actuated the Germans in thei brutal' frenzy to destroy the life of thi couple. The third of the trio of queens wh< have: been stricken w-ith the tragedy, o 2 the great' war is Marie of Rumania whose .lot has, been the most pathetic o t all,.because the .war has brought deatl t into her own family. Her father-in-law, King Charles, an< her mother-in-law, the poetic Carmei 3 Sylva, both died, and then, after Rumanii took, up the cause of right and justice German .barbarity was directed witl special venom against the royal famil; r of Rumania, and within a few month: after her country had joined the Allies her youngest child succumbed to tin hardships which the invasion of Rumanii » had entailed upon the royal family. Queen Marie is British to the core and this fact she proclaims on ever; possible occasion. She is Rumanian b; marriage, and Rumanian now and for th' rest of her life, with the truest ideals o J patriotism. 1 Her father, the second son of Queei p Victoria, and brother of King Edwarc c married a German princess, but th c Queen of Rumania rejects all title t' German nationality and insists upon he total alienation from everything tha pertains to Germanism, to Germani ideals, modes of thought and practices One of her sisters is married to the Gei man prince Hohenlohe Langenburg, an this fact of a family connection so clos to the German cause is a bitter though to the Queen. Since the invasion of her countr Queen Marie has worked and slaved fo the success of the cause, enduring pr vations of all kinds and risking her lif in serving those who are suffering in th hospitals and in-carrying comfort an consolatioa to those battling at th front.