THE ROMANCE OF THE STUARTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2695, 8 November 1905, Page 75

THE ROMANCE OF THE STUARTS.

The portrait of that estimable lady, Princess Ludwig of Bavaria, rarely appears in English illustrated papers without an accompanying statement to the effect that she is the last of the Stuarts ; and this, too, when she is depicted with several of her many children around her ! She has had about 13 sons and daughters, most of whom are alive ; and as the Salic Law does not hold good in Stuart genealogy, each Princess is as valuable as a Prince in keeping the line from dying out.

Strictly speaking, the last of the Stuarts was Cardinal York, who died in -1807, son of the Old Pretender, brother of the Young Pretender — King Henry IX of England, according to Legitimists. On his death this representative of a lost cause so far "recognised" a Hanoverian kinsman as his successor as to leave King George 111 the Collar and George of the Order- of the Garter, the Jewel of the Order of the Thistle, and a ceremonial ring, all of which King James 11, the Cardinal's grandfather, had carried away with him on his abdication and fight in 1688.

This touching and significant legacy was deposited in 1830 in the Crown Room of Edinburgh Castle, to keep company with several articles of the Scottish Regalia. The Jewel of the Thistle contains a miniature, within a recess, of the Old Pretender's consort, Princess Clementina Sobieski, mother of the two last "Stuart Kings," Charles 111 and Henry IX; and the ring is supposed to have been used at the coronation of Charles I at Holyrood.

It is evident that the Cardinal, a shadowy King of England for some 19 years, gave the successional preference to the House of Hanover rather than to the House of Savoy — to the descendants of Charles I's only sister, not to the descendants of Charles I's youngest daughter. 'According to Legitimists, King lienry IX of England was succeeded in his dynastic rights by Charles Emmanuel IV, King of Sardinia, great-grandson of Anne Mary, Queen of Sardinia, daughter of Henrietta, Duchess.of Orleans, daughter of King Charles lof England. From Charles Emmanuel IV the succession passed to his brother, Victor ' Emmanuel I, who abdicated the Sardinian throne in favour of his younger brother, Charles Felix, in 1821. Victor's British sovereignty passed to his elder daughter, Mary Beatrice, the wife of ncr uncle, Francis IV, Duke of Modena.

The present "Stuart Queen," Princess Ludwig of Bavaria, is the grand-daughter of Mary Beatrice; and extra-strict Legitimists consider that she is disqualified to reign over Britons by reason of the marriage of her grandparents, uncle and niece, which would not hold good in England.

The present Duke of Parma would be the man, therefore, for Jacobites to fuss round as a "last of the Stuarts"; and as he can. boast 20 living children, and grandchildren through a deceased daughter, the divine rights to the English throne supposed to have descended from King Charles I's daughter will probably stay among .Parmese Highnesses. The Dulte is the grandson of Mary Theresa, a younger daughter of Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia, and sister of Mary Beatrice, the "Queen Mary 111 and II of Great Britain."

It is noteworthy that these foreign Catholic Stuarts of Sardinian, Spanish, Austrian, and other descents set no serious estimate on the few drops of royal Scottish blood which may have travelled down to them from Henrietta Duchess of Orleans. The Hanoverian Stuarts, descended from Henrietta's aunt, Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, can also boast some precious drop ; and, what is more to the purpose, long residence in the British Isles as a ruling dynasty, chosen by and approved of the people.

In countries where monarchical institutions still flourish it is rare to find any of the people taking much interest in the genealogy of their royalties ; and if these great ones are born and brought up in the land, and manifest an interest in its affairs, they may well hold their own against outside highnesses who can boast a superior pedigree, but are as strangers personally to a nation over which their forefathers may have ruled. As for divinely rightful Sovereigns, the nineteenth century treated them with scant consideration, and the twentieth century sees several of them out of office, without hope of restoration, their old places being filled by newcomers who are more in touch .jfjth world's changing conditions.