SPANISH ROYALTY

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 47, Issue 2668, 10 September 1937, Page 8

SPANISH ROYALTY

“NOT NOTABLY HAPPY” A SOLDIER BECOMES KING UNFORTUNATE LOVE AFFAIRS. The Spanish Royal family has not been notably happy in its love affairs. A descendant of the love-lorn Christina, Prince Covadonga, disinherited son of ex-King Alfonso, has just married his second wife. She is Maria Rocafort, a Cuban girl. After two years of quarrelling, his first wife divorced him.

Born in his father’s little cigarstore in Tarascon, and brought up with his sister who worked in a laundry while she was still a child, Augustin Fernado Munoz died Duke of Rainsares, a senator, a general, a Knight of the Golden Fleece, and, above all the husband of the Queen of Spain. The story is one of the most romantic in the history of any Royal House. Ferdinand, King of Spain, had married and buried three wives before he married Maria Christina, who was then only 23 years old. He was a diseased old man, who, as his former wives died childless, was desperately in need of an heir. From the very first Christina felt a strong distaste for him, and, as she came to know him, and his disagreeable habits better, she loathed him. It is small wonder that she felt very lonely, and that the handsome young private of the Guards, who sometimes stood on duty outside her boudoir, should catch her eye.

The Queen was a good horsewoman and an excellent shot. Returning from one particularly exhilarating ride she came running down the glittering corridor in the Royal Palace. As she passed the young guardsman he noticed out of the corner of an eye that her little handkerchief was fluttering to the ground. He stooped and picked it up, and as he did so the door closed behind the Queen. For a moment he hesitated. Then, taking his courage in both hands he knocked on the door. A sweet voice asked him to enter, and feeling incredibly clumsy in that delicate apartment he obeyed.

The young Queen was sitting at her dressing-table and looked very beautiful. A slight flush mounted her cheeks and for a moment both were embarrassed. Then Munoz, standing to attention, said: “Your Majesty dropped this handkerchief.” The Queen thanked him, asked him to be seated for a moment, inquiring his name and where he was born. When Munoz found that the Queen knew Tarascon and had even sat by the banks of its little river the Rainsares, his shyness melted.

One bitterly cold winter’s day the Queen set out for a holiday at a small country seat called Quita Pesares. She took with her Munoz as escort, they drove rapidly. Suddenly . the coach skidded, and, with a crash, came to a standstill on the very edge of a precipice.

Inside the coach the Queen was clasped in the guardsman’s arms. Next day the Queen went for a walk in the garden, accompanied by Munoz and she and the soldier strolled down the walks and out of sight of the house. There the Queen declared her love for him.

They were married secretly, and the Queen bore a child to this ex-private of the Guards.

They were always happy together. Christina persuaded the Pope to recognise her marriage, and Munoz himself became interested in finance, especially in the building of railways, and when, in 1854, he and the Queen were forced to leave Spain for the last time, he was glad to be able to enjoy his wealth in peace. For all his successes Munoz never changed, but was the same kindly, honest man. When he died in 1871 she decided that no woman had ever had a better husband; and when she was a stout old lady living in Madrid where her grandson was king, tears would spring to her eyes at any mention of her husband, the private in the Guards.