A ROYAL ROMANCE.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12648, 20 September 1909, Page 1

A ROYAL ROMANCE.

j The romance of a beautiful English woman who aspired to share the throne of France with the Emperor Napoleon 111. lay behind the bald ontry "In re Trelawney (de Bechevet v. Strode"), wJiioh appeared in tlie cause list of the Loudon Chancery Court recently. The case concerned the final distribution of tlie remainder of the vast fortune amassed by Elizabeth Howard, Countess de Beauregard, who assisted Napoleon 111. to become the ruler of Fiance, and vainly . hoped to become liis consort. Her real name was Elizabeth Ann Haryett, but from an early age she called herself Elizabeth Howard. When sho made her appearance in London in the forties, her classic features and perfect figure took the town by storm. She was the friend first of a famous "jockey, and then of Major Martin, of the Life Guards. Her house soon becamo the meeting-place of the world of fashion, and she numbered among her friends such leaders of society as the Duke of . Beaufort and Count D'Orsay, tho "last oi-tho dandies." It was D'Orsay who introduced her 'to Louis Napoleon, then an exile. Tho future Emperor fell in love with her, and she advanoed him the wealth she had already acquired to aid him in furthering his plans in France. When Napoleon returned to France as Emperor, she followed him, and apartments at St. Cloud were allotted to hor. She appeared with him at reviews, and was regarded by everyone as his morganatio wife, and, possiblY tlie future Empress. At length Napoleon's love waned, and he strove to sever tho relationship, announcing that' he intended to marry Mile, de !Montijo, who became the Empress i Eugenic. ' Sho was furious that she ; should be thrown aside in this manner, and declared that in revenge she would publish all the Empeaor'j* letters to her. Napoleon twice sent Ins secret police to search her house, but they failed to discover the letters. Then, although he had already repaid with generous interest the money sho had advanced to liim, he offered to pay an •additional £250,000 as the price of her silence, and conferred on her the tho title of Countess de Beauregard. She would not be appeased, and took every opportunity of annoying the Emperor and Empress, lf they wont to the Opera, «ho was to be found in a box opposite to them, storing at them through her opera glasses, lt they drove in tho Bois dc Boulogne, her carriage followed them everywhere. Later sho married Mr Clarence Trelawney, an Austrian officer aud a member of an old Cornish family. The title whicii had been conferred ou her £aye offence to a family i bearing a> similar title, and tlie Em'- ■ poror conferred on her son, Martin Constautiue, who was believed to be lus own son, the different title of Count do Beohevet. . i Tho countess, whose husband died ni • 1861, died in 1865, leaving hor large : estates in trust to her son. When the Count de Bechevet, who married a, noble Hungarian lady; died in 190r, ' the fortune became distributable be- ' tween his three children. The proj pertv dealt with by the Cliancery ! Court amounted to about £140,000, i and consisted ohieay of foreign secunI ties, which were locked in a box and j deposited in tlie custody of the court. The court made the orders asked tor, and the remains of the groat -wealth whicii the countess had levied from Napoloon wero finally distributed.