THE SKETCHER. A ROMANCE OF BELGIUM ROYALTY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2387, 30 November 1899, Page 61

THE SKETCHER. A ROMANCE OF BELGIUM ROYALTY.

As was said in Modern Society of a lecent date, "there was no love lost between

the Duchess of Brabant, .to-day Queen Marie of the.. Belgians, and her sister-in-law, Princess Charlotte." The latter was, id fact, a most spiteful and dangerously vindictive girl, as a correspondent reminds us, and she very nearly brought her brother's matrimonial affairs to a premature divorce. She may almost be spoken of as the first cause of an estrangement between Leopold and his wife.Maria. Henrietta, who was an Austrian Princess, offered in her character the same mixture of haughty spirit^ arid levity of manners which distinguished Marie Antoinette and,- before her, the Empress Marie Therese. But Maria Henrietta had known no troubles, and she was as flighty as a bird when she arrived at Brussels., and found a dull father-in-law, a code of etiquette which to her eyes was absolutely ludicrous, an economy such as she had never seen before, and manners not too refined. No wonder

if she sometimes turned up her aristocratic

nose at the members of her new family — d6ar Charlotte,, the pet of old King Leopold~l,'to begin •vvilh: : The "girl had been brought up to believe that she: was the cream' of the cream, and sha "felt much crushed when, a few days" ■- after tiie Royal marriage, at a ball given ia honour of the nawlv-wedded Duke and Duchess of Brabant, she saw her sister-in-law appear par.ectly lovely in a rich white satin "dress, simply made, and wearing on -her fine herd a tiara of splendid diamonds, and cover: 1. besides with the rare jewels which had oeen given to her by the Archduchess, i er mother. Charlotte had donned a violent red gauze dress, :uid her whole jewel-box , had been emptied to enhance her doubtful beauty. But in spite of all, and though her civess might have attracted the attention of ;,he youug lords of Belgium, she was totally

eclipsed by the new star. - Among the men ■who deserted h»r that evening to go uud

cluster round iMaria Henrietta was a good-

looking youth, full of fun and life, who had gone to Brussels to be present at the wedding fetes, and had flirted with <*!1 the beauties of the palace, Princess Charlotte especially. He even went so far that the girl, in her ambitious little mind, had calculated that she might become a Queen of Holland some day or other, for the jolly cavalier was no other than Wilhelm Prince of Orange. But it happened on this eventful evening that, as much as etiquette would allow him. the smitten youth never left the side of

the bride, and quite forgot tha cross damsel

in screaming red gauze,, who waswatch- " irig them closely. As Fate would, have it, jiist as .she was sitting rather forlorn, and dreaming vaguely of revenge in tho conservatory which led from the ballroom into the garden, she heard a silvery laugh, and saw- Maria Henrietta playfully teasing the "romantic youngster with a branch of orange flower he bad'just broken off- from a hut^e oiange tree for her. In a moment Princess Charlotte was at her brother's side, and, hanging upon his arm, she carefully brought under his notice the big broken branch of orange leaves and flowers lying on the floor. Leopold entertained a great love for thete magnificent and rare trees, and a mild oath escsped his lips. Charlotte looked very much concerned also, and said in a honeyed voice. "It was that brutal William of Orange who broke it. A-: if he could 'not have picked just a few flowers and. leaves to give to x\larie if he wanted to." j Leopolel gasped. • "What do you mean?" he cried. , "Here the\ are," said the girl, pointing to the garden, where the young Duchess and the Prince were standing, looking certoinly on very good terms with each other. Soon after, the ball ended in an unexpected manner. Maria Henrietta was seized with a violent headache, and went away, while Leopold, looking like- a chained tiger, was evidently kept in order by uhe stern eyes of the old King, who himself seemed very much put out. As for the P.rince of Orange, he was never seen c^nn either at the ball or in the palace, .not even in Brussels, and soon the offensive alliance of brother and ' sister against the young Duchess created a scandr 1 !. Maria Henrietta did not_bear any 'grudge against hei. sister-in-law,- however. Perhap3 it wa^ tho more easy for her to forgive that 'her heart was not in the least engaged in the business:. She even brought to a satisfactory end the negotiations which made, later on, spiteful Charlotte an Archduchess of Austria. But the quarrels between the iwo kidiu? began again when the shaky and perilous Throne of Mexico was offered to Maximilian, and she* saw his ambitious young wife stir up the quiet spirit of her husband, who wished for nothing better than to be left in peace ir his beautiful Castle of Miramar.

_iS everybody knows, Charlotte succeeded at last in her endeavours, and Maximilian accepted the dangerous post,' which his want of political ability and firmness of character made him unable to keep, only to please his young wife. Again the Queen of the Belgians, though no one would ever charge her with too much sweetness of heart, showed herself a true grand lady when, after the catastrophe which brought home again poor Charlotte, she received hei with kindness, and tried her best to bring round the flitting mind of the poor widowed Empress of Mexico. But the Prince of Orange showed less fortitude than Maria Henrietta, for a spiteful "Nasty cat! Serves her right!" escaped his lips when he heard the end of the dreadful Mexican tragedy. And to explain this very unexpected outburst of rancour he related the above episode.