A PRINCESS TO RUN A KINEMA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18465, 28 January 1922, Page 15

A PRINCESS TO RUN A KINEMA

Princess Stephanie, cousin of tha (0 King of the Belgians and widow of the ; ill-fated Crown Prince Budolph of Austria, ; is the first Eoyai personage to purchase a cinema an'd “run** it herself. This “Tragic ■ Princess” is well-known in England, where . she* resided during the war, and did much good work for the Bed Cross funtjp. ' The Hungarian Government hap ; graSntoS”' Princess Stephanie and her band, Count Lonyay, a licence cinema which they have bought in ylenpijL. Never in very affluent circumstances’ aod her income greatly reduced by the .war,,-;! the “Tragic Princess’ ’ —once Crown 1 Princess of Austria—is thus wooing fortune by setting .up as a popular entertainer, the first royal personage to do so. The life of Princess Stephanie well bean , out the legend that whatever the S burgs go sorrow and. tragedy' follow, in their train. Stephanie is a daughter of 1 the late King Leopold of Belgium,, an irascible and pleasure-loving monarch; mt whom she was forced into marriage with',’ J Crown Prince Budolph of Austria, an alliance detested by both’ parties to it. The i extravagances, follies, nod scandal# irith ■- ’ which this Prince of the House of Hiapk--burg was mixed up are matters of history. He brutally ill-treated his wife,: "Seeking ’relief from the marriage he detested: isi ' illicit love affairs. The crowning v onfanqrf of his life was .the manner of ,his',,deatlb . about which so many mysterious stearin have been whimpered in the Courts' Europe. ’ —The Mystery of Meyerling^~. ’’ . On the night of January 30,1889, Crown. Prince Rudolph was found dead buhls V hunting box at Meyerling, and by his side lay the body of his mistress, MarieVetserak’ ■ There is little doubt that both' had ! murdered by secret assassins. Though Tha'£ Court of Austria attempted tomaSa 'oh| that Rudolph had committed suicide;‘‘subsequent knowledge belies this st’dry,^MMJjg;- 1 4; was shot, and Rudolph, struggling;, wiw the assassins, was slam by a blow on tpjs I head from a champagne bottle. ■: ;' * This terrible tragedy made Stephaniecli ~ widow, , but though it rid her of a man who made her life a long misery/'little happiness came her way. Her father-in-law- refused to have anything to do' with her,- and her own father, Leopold, denial ’ her access to his palace. For yeara.uho wandered throughout Europe,! .passing through the glittering throng or pTeasnfPr < seekers at Monte Carlo and other; resorts on the Riviera, a silent, melancholy figure, . at sight of whom hhads would tnm and mysterious whispers fly, hut to whom none 1 of the highly-placed dare offer friendship i for fear of offending one or other of thp ’ two monarchs. ... 1 is But, amidst all her sorrows, Princes* . Stephanie was to know one happiness—the . love of an honest man. Count Lonyay, rher gentleman-in-waiting, became, ■ attached to her, and eyentually married.has . royal mistress.. King Leopold was furious at this morganatic marriage, and sb, .too, would have beep Francis Joseph, the Efiipenor of Austria, had he not seen in it ft way of scoring off his old enemy, Leopold. The more the King of Belgium snubbed the newly-married couple the more Francis Joseph assisted them, sending presents of money when Leopold cut off his daughter’* \ allowance. In the meantime Princess Stephanie** daughter (who had been brought up at the Court of Austria) had fallen in love'with.. Prince von Windischgraetz, a man 'of toUsjh ,l;i lower station than her own, . and 'waS : about to form" a morganatic alliance wiijtji ■ him. To the wedding Stephanie was invited but her husband (the Count) was not coupled with her in the invitation. Thus is seen the absurd case of a Princess • marrying morganatically, yet denying her step-father the right to attend the cere- : mony because he is a morganatic! j t ri-King Leopold’s Pleasures.— All this time the Princess was in greatneed of money. Her mother had left her a very handsome legacy, but her-father-— 1 needing vast sums in the pursuit -of his . dubious pleasures—determined that die* 1 ■ 1 should never touch a penny of it. -Ha’ cared nothing for honour or family ties;*,, his sole life consisted of self-indulgence '■ and vicious pursuits. He squandered his own fortune and that of his wife, and the best that can be said for him is that it ■ was spent on one woman—the daughter pfa railway porter—whom he made-,,a , ; Baroness and installed in a magnificent ‘ palace. By means of a lawsuit concerning the validity of his wife’s will, Leopold succeeded in diverting to his own uses a vast sum that should have been. 1 ' Stephanie’s. tij It would be hard to imagine a more . tragic existence than that of this unhappy lady. Truly has she been called the.‘Tragic Princess.’ But, after years of wandering, and sorrow, her father died, and - 1910, the present King Albert cam© tof the: throne, Stephanie was immediately offered- ’ a home in Brussels. Returning, therefore;, to the city which for many years she - had had to visit in disguise and in 1 fear of the secret agents of her father, aha, 1 . with Count - Lonyay, took up residmcA.itij- . a fine house in the capital. .. At the outbreak of war Stephanie found i herself in.a curious position. By birth shewas a Belgian, but by marriage an s -j; Austrian, and it was confidently expected by the Hapsburgs that she would, throw in her lot with them. But the Princess had learnt enough of their idleas 1 of' 1 hospitality, and, fleeing from tha invading’ ‘ armies, came over to England with'hfejC < husband and settled down in Siprreyi Throughout the war she interested.hetr ‘ self in the care of digressed countrymen;! and raised large sums for the British’Bed! Cross. At the Armistice she’ returned to - the Continent, and eventually want to live ‘ f. in Vienna. The vicissitudes through which she has passed and the downfall 6f’ ; f the Hapsburgs nave had their affect upon her resources, and once more the is faced with poverty. Never without courage, she has put asifle the tho.ught’of her rank and entered boldly into w scheme 1 -.1 by which she hopes to make hers6lf andT ,- her husband (the Count) independent h| r the charity of her cousin,-the Kijig'of the' ;. Belgians.—Glasgow Weekly Herald.