THE QUEEN OF HOLLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 2497, 22 January 1902, Page 14

THE QUEEN OF HOLLAND.

RECENT DOMESTIC TRIALS. For many weeka (writes the London correspondent of the Argus, under date 9th, December) there have been stories abroad in northern Europe that the young Queen, of Holland aud her consort, Prince Henry of Mecklenburg, were living very unhappily together. It was said that their differences during the past three months had become a positive scandal. The newspapers hinted at much, but said little that was very definite until this week. It is now alleged, on the authority of Reuter, whose Amsterdam, correspondent has obtained his information from " a source which is held to be worthy of confidence," that not only have there been personal quarrels between the Queen and her consort, but that the latter has fought a couple of duels with two of the equerries who protested against his bad manners. We are told that prior to tfie Queen's recent illness, when she was disappointed of being a mother, she was annoyed at some inattention on the part o£ her, husband, and used a harsh word to him. in the presence of others ; whereupon the Prince lost his temper and insulted the Queen. Lieutenant van Tets, her Majesty'a aide-de-camp, intervened, and reproached the Prince for his impropriety. A duel ensued, and van Tete was wounded. Shortly afterwards Prince Henry fought another duel with a second courtier, on account of the same affair, and again he pinked his man. It is added by Reuter's correspondent thafc the Prince had been hunting on the day he quarrelled with the Queen, and was under tfie influence of liquor. Other correspondents allege that the Prince is a gambler, and that the Queen objects to pay his " enormous " debts. He is accused of having an unconcealed antipathy to Holland, and that his passion for hunting leads him to neglect his domestic and public duties. The German papers give details of his hunting exploits, away at Buckeburg, when the Queen was slowly recovering from her serioun illness. His chief amusement on thafc occasion was to roam the Schaumburg forest with bloodhounds. Another and a very definite statement respecting the encounter with/ Lieutenant van Tets is that it was no dual at all. The Prince brutally kicked the lieutenant in the stomach, and produced peritonitis, from which the poor man with difficulty recovered. The Prince's friends declare that all these statements are -" inventions," that there has been no quarrel and no duel, and that the Prince left home for Buckeburg at the direct instigation of the Queen. But nobody in Holland seems to believe these contradictions. The Queen is known to have a strong- will of her own, and to be a very masterful young person. Her consort is also hasty, and is certainly not a teetotaller ; and it is equally true that he does not like Holland and that the Dutch do not love him. He has too much of the Prussian officer about him for their tastes. The marriage was never popular with no inconsiderable part of the people of Holland. They have a morbid fear thafc the Prince Consort is playing a hand in the dreaded game of annexing Holland to Germany. This morning's news from Amsterdam indicates that the royal couple have become reconciled. They have dined together since Saturday last, and have been seen walking out together — thanks, it is said, to the influence of the Queen mother. It is added that the attitude of Prince Henry towards the members of the court is more frigid than polite.

Arthur Ramsden, aged 50, and Frank Ram^den, aged 16, were accidentally drowned off Cape Patton (Victoria) recently whilst fishing off the rocks.

As Samuel Jansvvell was climbing over a fence at Sydney the other night, he slipped, and was impaled, a laige piece of paling entering tho abdomen. He died next day.

• "The colours of the 58th Regiment, the first to bo unfurled in New Zealand, which have been in the Auckland Supreme Court for many yeais, are to bo lemoved to the library.

There are a variety of kinds of bookfiends (»ays the Oamoru Mail), and one of the very worst must have been the one who so ruthlessly and mischievously destroyed a copy of " Madame " in the ladies' room of the athenaeum iagt Saturday alt££n,cjou^