From Throne to Poverty

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12211, 8 August 1925, Page 11

From Throne to Poverty

Tragedy of an Ex-Empress 11 The Sad Case of Queen Zita . r

MONG the dethroned exenemy royalties there is but one case that is deserving of sympathy. It is that of the ex-Empress Zita of Austria, the widow of the late Emperor Karl. She was by birth virtually an Allied Princess belonging to the House of Parma-Bourbon, and therefore closely associated with Prance and Italy. With the collapse of the Central Powers, Karl abdicated as Emperor of

Austria, while receiving'the rights of his son, the infant Archduke Otto, and it was a British colonel' who" rescued them from a “Red’* mob. Karl, .however, did not abdicate as King of Hungary and continued to regard himself as such, as did most Hungarians, some openly, the others covertly.

A WIDOW’S DISTRESS i Urged on by the ex-Empress Queen, i Karl made two abortive efforts to rei gain the Hungarian throne, reaching i on the second occasion by aeroplane -■ the. neighbourhood of Budapest, where he was Anally defeated by the Govera- . ment forces of the Regent Horthy. ■ The Allies then arranged for the nni fortunate couple and their children to ■ reside in Madeira, instead of Switzeri land, which was deemed too close to the danger zone. But Karl died shortly afterwards at Madeira in painful cireumstanoes, There was not even available the i money to pay for the services of a specialist, and all the Imperial and Royal estates having been - appropriated, his widow and children are now in actual distress and subsist on the generosity of the house of Spain, and of a few of their loyal followers in Hungary, themselves greatly impoverished. ALLIED CHIVALRY The British and French Governments consider that not only the most elementary chivalry, bnt the most elementary justice, would demand that an unfortunate Royal lady who was merely technically an enemy, and I sought to help the Allies, having lost •her crown, her personal estate, and (exhausted what little funds and jewellery she was able to save from the wreckage, should he treated with some consideration. The more 80 as a Hapsburg restoration was not prohibited by the Peace Treaties. The Ambassadors' Conference in Paris has been instructed to find a formula by which each of the successive States would contribute its quota —out of the confiscated Imperial and Royal estates—towards a very small civil list. ' HELP UNLIKELY But this plan is not likely .to go through. Prague, Belgrade, Bucharest, Vienna even, will decline to . contribute a cent to the support of a - member of a dynasty they abhor. But Hungarian chivalry would prolw ably respond, poor as is Hungary at this date. ' There is no reason why the Allies: should not assign to the ex-Empress-Queen’s maintenance a small portion of the revenues from the former Crown lands. -