A ROYAL CINDERELLA

Evening Star, Issue 18833, 6 January 1925, Page 4

A ROYAL CINDERELLA

TRAGEDY OF CHARLES THE FIRST’S DAUGHTER. From her first breath to her last romance alternated with tragedy in the life of Henrietta Stuart, daughter of our first Charles, the most beautiful and the most ill-fated of all England’s princesses. Cradled amid the thunders of cannon in the Civil War, she was left, a fortnightold infant, by her mother at Exeter to the care of her devoted nurse, Lady Dalkeith, while Henrietta, Maria sought safety ;n her native France; and for more than two years she was a prisoner of the Roundheads before, in the guise of a peasiut child, she was smuggled across the English Channel, to grow to girlhood in the Louvre, a pensioner, with her mother, of Louis XIV. “THE BOXES OF THE HOLY INNOCENTS.” For years this daughter of a King cf England and granddaughter of Henry of Navarre led a life of poverty, open licking fire and food, condemned to wait hand ■and foot on the mins of the Convnit of the Filles-Saint-Marie at Ghailbt, snd scorned or pitied by all for her pls’nness. The handsome boy King, Louis, dubbed his unattractive cousin “The Bones of 'he Holy Innocents,” and more than once refused point-blank to dance with “ that scarecrow.” But on the threshold of young womanhood, Henrietta, like many other “ugly ducklings,” blossomed into an unexpected beauty—with a skin like “ rose-o’ershaded lilies,” golden-red hair, eyes blue as violets, and flower-like lips. “ But her chief beauty was her smile of incomparable sweetness, which, while transfiguring her face, captured all hearts. And to these physical charms she added a sprightly wit, an ever-bubbling gaiety of spirits, and an unrivalled skill "in singing and dancing.” THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM’S PASSION. To such beauty had Charles’s “ugly daughter” grown when the Duke of Buckingham first saw her, and for love of her nearly lost his reason; and when the German Emperor was among the most ardent of her many suitors. But in the choice of a husband Henrietta was allowed no voice, for at seventeen her hand was given to Louis’s brother, Philippe Duo d’Orleans, the handsomest and most vicious prince in all Europe —a youth who found his low pleasures among his mignons, the most depraved young man in France; a creature whose chief delight was to dress in women’s clothes, and, powdered, patched, and painted, to mimic the airs and coquetries of a tine lady. Such a union, to a husband unmanly, empty-headed, and heartless, with all woman’s follies and frailties and none of her virtues, was from the first doomed to a tragic failure. “ I never loved her after the first fortnight,” the, duke used callously to boast; while from her wedding day Henrietta had nothing but disgust and lothing for the man who left his bride to share the orgies of his mignons. But if her husband thus showed his contempt of her charms, there were many others eager to pay homage to them, and chief among them King Louis himself; for the boy who had dubbed her “ scarecrow a few years earlier was now the very slave of her fascinations. At Fontainebleau he installed her queen of a brilliant sequence of hunting parties, balls, and banquets arranged in her honor; and in her company ho spent many a summer night, wandering with her in the moonlight through the forest glades until the day dawned. HENRIETTA'S SUPREMACY ENDS. Such, was Louis’s infatuation for his lovely cousin that Monsieur, his brother, was roused to a fury of jealousy, and his mother to anger and alarm. A stop mint be put to such madness; and with tins object Anne of Austria s prettiest maid of honor, Louise de la Valliere, was commanded to exercise her wiles to lure the boy King from his entanglement—a task which she discharged, so successfully that Louis was soon helpless in her toils, and Henrietta’s day of supremacy was closed. Madarao, however, was as little disposed to waste tears end sighs over a recreant King aa over a worthless husband, and we soon find her exchanging billets-doux and arranging stolen interviews with that most handsome and brilliant of Louis’s courtiers, Armand de Guiche, whose genius lor cunning disguises end daring adventures amused her while flattering her vanity. HIDDEN IN A CHIMNEY. When news of this flirtation, which came to its climax one. day when De Guiche found his way to the Princess’s apartments disguised as a women fortuny-teller, came to Louis's ears, his rage and jealousy knew no bounds. De Guiche was promptly ordered off to the wars; but before leaving he sought a final interview with Henrietta, which nearly ended in tragedy. Smuggled into the palace by one of Madarae’s ladies, he was bidding her “ good-bve ” when, ’’who should he unexpectedly announced but Monsieur, her husband 1 The ever-vigllant Montalais had only time to whisper a warning, and the high-flown Guiche was obliged to fling dignity to tho winds and escape like some ridiculous bourgeois lover in a similar predicament. When Monsieur entered _ his wife’s apartment the Comte de Guiche was in the chimney ! ’ With De Quiche’s disappearance the unfortunate Henrietta fell into the clutches of the Marquis de Vardes, one of the most debauched men in France. But it was not long before his insolence and the daily humiliation to which he subjected her drove her to make a full confession to Louis of her follies and her predicament, with the result that De Yardea was sent to cool his ardor in a dungeon in Montpelier. Thus freed from her persecutor, Madame at last decided to turn her back on love, and to liv* down the memory of her indiscretions.