AUSTRIAN ROYALTY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 8986, 25 February 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

AUSTRIAN ROYALTY.

♦THE EMPRESS OF AUSTRIA'S CURIC OUS AND INTERESTING LIFE. , Eceofe has no Court where the women are bo fair as at the Austrian. The Empress herself, though no longer young, is still counted among beautiful women. She was once ravishingly fair, and the traces of the beauty that captured an Emperor can still fee discerned. Hers was a romantic wooing. Francis Josef had ascended the Austrian ihrone in 1848. In 1853 a marriage had been negotiated for him with the lady who is now the widow of Prince Taxis. He went to the castle of his future father-in-law, Duke Max of Bavaria, in order to be officially betrothed. But the imperial matchmakers had been making wedding arrangements without having taken the little god that rules so despotically in our lives into their confidence. For as soon as the young monarch caught sight of his intended bride s younger sister, then a girl in short dresses, he feS madly in love with her, and so Princess Elizabeth was chosen instead of Princess Helene. The marriage, which took place in April, 1554. was a very unpopular one in Vienna. The Emperor's imperial relatives had intended a bigger match for him than with the impoverished Bavarian ducal family. FALLING IN LOVE. Bnfc the Hapsburgs were accustomed to falling in love like ordinary mortals. A few years ago there resided on the Aussee Lake, near Ischl, the widow of the Archduke John of Austria, Regent of the German Empire in IS4-S. She was known as Baroness Brandof, was originally the daughter of the postmaster of Aussee, and rejoiced in the prosaic name of Anna Blochl. One day Archduke John, wearied with a day's hunting, took lodgings at the postmaster's house. In the morning, whan the buxom daughter of the host brought him his coffee, the Archduke was enchanted with the girl's appearance and immediately proposed. a kind of left-handed marriage. _ Of this the old peasant would not hear, saying, *' Efther marriage or nothing." The Archduke considered the matter, and after creating the old postmaster Baron Brandthop, married his daughter, and lived happily with her until his death. Up to a few years ago, and perhaps now, his widow lived at Aussee, close by the lake. Her son, Count Meran, resides with her, and has seven children, all remarkable for their lack of personal beauty and their love of the gentle Craft, as Izaik Walton calls fishing. Francis Josefs selection brought his beautiful bride much annoyance, and for ten or twelve years after the marriage the Empress was simply boycotted by the Viennese aristocracy and by the members of the imperial family. The Empress has had her revenge, however, and for the Last twenty years she has left no chance unimproved of showing her regard for the gallant Hungarians, preferring to live among them at Buda-Pesth and at Godollo, as Queen of the Magyars, rather than as Empress of Austria. Sne did much to win Hungarian loyalty to her husband s throne. The Empress Elizabeth is now seldom seen in public. Her withdrawal from public life has its good reason, as she Is afflicted with a rash on her face which makes her shun society. At Ischl, one of her favourite summering places, whenever she appears on horseback, her face is concealed by a heavy veil, and when she is driven out she has the habit of holding a fan up to her face, even when returning the greetings of her royal admirers. The wicked people of Ischl says she does this because of her affliction. However, it must be said that when the imperial lady L* on horseback she has a very beautiful, slender figure, and that, she rides in a Wonderfully graceful manner. » IF THE STORIES ARE TRUE.

> And no wonder, if all the stories one hears are true. The people of Vienna used to have a constant grievance that the Empress never showed herself in public except when P.enz's circus came to town, and that then she was seen in her box every night, while she never attended the opera or the Burg Theatre. The Empress' life in Vienna was, a few years ago. as interesting and curious in its way as was that of King Ludwig of Bavaria at the Linderhof or at Flohensch-v.-angan. She knew only one passion, and that was her love for horses and horse riding. She had her own special riding establishment attached to the Burg in Vienna,-and there only the jockeys and Mile. Renz had admittance. There she ruled supreme. Glorious specimens of horseflesh were trotted out, the imperial lady mounted, and then the fun commenced. She was not satisfied with the ordinary exercise of horsewomanship, but was as skilful in what is called the '• high school" of riding as the most finished circus-rider. She dressed, too, like the circus-riders, and, standing on the back of two steeds, would drive a tandem team before her at a relentless pace around the ,*ing, having fresh relays of horses every few minutes. The imperial l»dy wa3 not content with this alone, but could vault through the hoop as well as the best of lady .jrofessionaLs. As a huntress the Empress is one of the most fearless riders, as those who have followed her at Melton Mowbray or in Ireland can testify. No more elegant rider can be imagined. But of late years she has been compelled by the advice of her physician to give up violent outdoor exercise. Every year she has now to go to some celebrated thing place for her health. Last year, in the hope of yetting rid of the rheumatic pains that had forced her to give up riding, she went through a course of eulphur baths at a little place up in the Carpathian Mountains called Herculesbad ; but she could not entirely give up her old life, and now takes to mountaineering in-«tf.-ad of horseback riding.