PRINCESSES OF THE PAST.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 October 1931, Page 20 (Supplement)

PRINCESSES OF THE PAST.

MATILDA OF SCOTLAND. Matilda, daughter of Malcolm, King of Scotland, was born in 1079, and her mother, the Queen, wished her to be a nun. When she was little more than a baby they dressed her in a nun’s gown, covered her face ■ with a black veil, and told her to go and show herself to the king. Malcolm, however, was angry when he beheld his little daughter, snatched the veil from her face, and threw it away. . “I do not wish you to be a nun, Matilda!” he cried. “I will not,” murmured. Matilda, and although she knew not what a nun might be she did know that she must obey her father. And she was glad to get rid of the black veil. . Matilda had no soft bed to lie on, no rich food to eat, and her play-thing was, no doubt, a hank of wool tied to resemble a doll, for the times were hard, and her country was at war. One bleak night a messenger arrived at the castle with the news that her father and eldest brother had been killed fighting against the English, and her mother died soon afterwards. Crying softly, because there was nobody to look after her, Matilda curled herself up in a loophole which was the only window she knew, and wondered what would happen to her. A usurper seized the throne of Scotland, but, fortunately for Malcolm’s children, their mother’s brother, Edgar Atheling, a Saxon, carried the children off to England, and sent Matilda to a convent Where his sister was the abbess. Matilda was delighted with the flowers in the convent garden, and was pleased to play with the little daughters ♦iiimii ftuniiiiiiintiniiiteiniitniiittn if iiitHtttiiiimttimtiiai’

nt *>>! i tiiiitii»tiiiiiiiiim<miiitiMiiiiiitimHiiißiiitiiii«itiimiiit of the Norman nobles. But after a while the abbess, her aunt, told her that she must be a nun. . Matilda murmured that.it was against her father’s wishes. Nevertheless they dressed her in a coarse, horse-hair gown, and covered her face with a black veil. Matilda hated her veil, and often she would tear it from her face and declare to the other maidens that her father had forbidden her to rear it. 'She never went out of the convent, and one day when her aunt reproved her for singing so merrily she flew into a temper, ran into the' garden, and snatched the black veil from her face as her Uncle Edgar Atheling arrived to pay her a visit.. Her uncle was not alone; with him was a tall youth with a quiet, clever face, and Matilda was so ashamed -of her exhibition of temper that she darted away.. “Who was the tall youth with my uncle?” she asked later. “He was Henry, the third son of William the Conqueror,” replied one of the nuns. “He is a great scholar, but, like you, of no account. His brother is Duke of Normandy, and William called Rufus is King of England.” “Of no account,” sighed Matilda. Soon afterwards she heard that Henry had seized Saint Michael’s Mount, and was living as a pirate. Then, suddenly, the little princess was faced with a terrible difficulty. She was commanded to marry the Earl of Surrey, or become a nun. She said she would be a nun» but could not take the vows till she was older. Several times she put off taking the vows. Then she heard that William Rufus had been killed while hunting iu the New Forest, and Henry, surnamed Beauclerc, became king“And still I am of no account, thought the princess sadly. Then, one day, Henry the Ist; of England rode up to the convent, and asked boldly for the hand of Matilda of Scotland, and she accepted, how strange is fortune!.