No Crowns to Wear! Pathetic Queens of Europe

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 50, 21 May 1927, Page 19 (Supplement)

No Crowns to Wear! Pathetic Queens of Europe

HE recent death in Brussels of the Empress Charlotte, widow of the ill-starred and long dead Maximilian, who for a short space was

Emperor of Mexico, followed closely upon the death of Queen Olga of Greece, an exile in Italy; and the eyes of the world are now focused on other unfortunate throneless queens whose sorrows are quite as heavy as were those of the Empress Charlotte and of Queen Olga. The Empress Charlotte had been for many years almost completely devoid of reason. The life of Olga of Greece witnessed one tragedy after another. Her husband, King George, was murdered; her son, Constantine, was forced to abdicate in 1922 and died the following year.

To-day in different parts of Europe four queens are living in exile —Marie of Russia, Sophie of Greece, Zita of Austria-Hungary, and Amelie of Portugal. At Hoorn lives the Princess Hermine, who insists upon being called “her Majesty,” and who considers herself the Kaiserin of Germany. This is a far-fetched claim.

Of the four queens there is perhaps no more pathetic figure than Marie of Russia, who will be 80 years of age soon and who lives in Copenhagen, the land of her birth, quite alone with her bitter memories of the past. She was a Danish princess and the sister of the late Queen Alexandra of England. When she was young she was, like Alexandra, very beautiful and was known as the Princess Dagmar. She became engaged to the Czarevich Nicholas, heir apparent to the throne of all the match that promised great happiness. Nicholas was reputed to be a very brilliant and engaging Prince, and the young couple seemed to be living in a golden world. Her fiance died in Nice with Princess Dagmar at his bedside. When Nicholas knew that death was upon him he exacted from the Princess a promise that she would marry nis brother Alexander, who now became heir to the throne. This she did Marie made a devoted wife, and when a Nihilist bomb brought her husband suddenly to the throne as Czar Alexander 111. she made it a point to accompany him on every possible occasion, sharing his dangers. For this devotion she more than once narrowly missed death. At the time a strong prejudice existed in Russia against foreign princesses, but Marie Feodorovna won a deserved and lasting popularity. Of all the important personages in the Russian royal family she alone escaped execution at the hands of the Bolshevists.

The other day in Florence Queen Sophie of Greece, accompanied by several members of her household,

entered a tea room and ordered waffles and maple syrup. Her face was a study in sadness. She did not seem Queen of the Hellenes, but rather a queen of sorrow. Born a princess, sister of the ex-Kaiser, married to the nephew of Queen Vic toria, Constantine, King of Greece, she must have felt in her earlier years that destiny had cast her lot happily among the great women of Europe. To-day she is an exile, none too well off financially, living quietly in a small villa on the outskirts of Florence. Most dramatic has been the life of Empress Zita of Austria and Hungary. She has never abandoned hope of returning to Hungary and seeing her son Otto upon t l ' - ancient throne. Meanwhile, this royal refugee has found asylum in Spain, where the

old Palace of Uribarren at Lequeitio has been fitted out for her occupancy The expenses were borne by popular subscription, to which many Spanish grandees contributed. Royalist banners fly from the palace windows, and it is said that many monarchist plotters are to be seen in the quaint and quiet streets of the town. Empress Zita is so poor that the King of Spain sent a telegram to the Pope asking that she and the children be provided with the necessities of life.

Queen Amelie of Portugal, the first of the four queens to become an exile, took up her residence in France several years ago and now lives at Versailles. She was the heroine of the day back in 1908 when the royal coach bearing King Carlos and other members of the royal family of Por tugal rolled through the streets of Lisbon. There was excitement throughout the town. Suddenly shots were heard and the King lurched forward. Queen Amelie gathered her son Manoel close to her and succeeded in eluding the assassins. Two years later Portugal staged another of its periodic revolutions and Queen Amelie and Manoel fled. From that day Portugal has been a republic. The youthful Manoel is a king with out a throne.