A ROMANTIC CAREER.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1149, 15 September 1883, Page 3

A ROMANTIC CAREER.

Few princesses <•»:. boast of a more romantic life than could Gert i tide von Hanati, who died recently at Prague, in her 77i h year. Endowed by nature with extraordicaiy personal attractions, this daughter of a well-to-do wine merchant established at Bonn, had several offers of marriage whilst still in her teens, and bestowed her hand some 58 years ago upon a Prussian paymaster called Lehmann. Shortly after her union with this person she paid a visit to her parents in her native town and during her stay with them made the acquaintance of Frederick William, Electoral Prince of Hesse. The young officer, who had quitted his father’s court ia consequence of a quarrel with the reigning Elector’s mistress, fell desperately in love with “ Mrs Captain Lehmann,” and soon proposed lo make practical recantation of his high principles in her favor by carrying her off from her husband. The fair Gertrude, however, promptly gave. him to understand that her views were exclus'.vely matrimonial. She was, indeed, already a wife, but well aware that when the hrpn ness of a German heirapparent is at a sla/‘II y a dcs accommodaiuea:3 aveo le ciel,” the suggested to his Serene Highness that her husband, Lehmann, was a sensible and manageable fellow enough, open to reason of a cert-in sort, and that, in all probability, a little judicious persuasion would convince him of the expediency of parting with his handsome spouse—for a consideration. negotiations wc; o opened between the gentlemen, resulting ia a bard-cash transaction, whereby Lehmann became the happy possessor of £15,0 sterling; Having pocketed this little competence, he proceeded to institute a divorce suit against his wife upon the nlea of “ incompatibility of temperament,” and as soon as the decree had been pronounced, Gertrude Falkenstein, ex Lehmann, was led to the altar byher“AllSerenist, ” suitor, who a few months later conferred upon her the title of Conntrss von Schaumburg. The wedding took place in tho autumn of 1831, the year in which popular discontent with the Elector William’s regime in Hesse (ompelled that singularly dissolute potentate to nominate his eon co-Eegent—a step which practically amounted to his abdication in favour of Frederick William. Frau von Schaumburg, therefore —at that time in tho zenith of her beauty—had nob long to wait for the position and power to which she bad aspired when she resolved to part from her husband of her girlhood’s choice, who, by the way, had been compelled to throw up his commission in the Prussian service by his brother officers, and vanish into dishonorable obscurity with the price of his infamy. When she took up her abode, however, in the Hessian capital, her new mother-in-law —an aunt of the present German Emperor—refused to sit in the box with her at the theatre, whereupon Frederick William gave orders that his mother should be henceforth not admitted to that place of entertainment. Towards the end of the year the aged mother, ignoring her son’s prohibition, paid a visit to the theatre one evening, and was enthusiastically cheered by the audience upon her appearance in a private box. This demonstration was continued in the streets when she left the house, and led to tho populace being charged by tho Elector’s body guard, with drawn sabres, at his Serene Highness’s sxpress command. The Hessians never forgave their Elector for this barbarous order. . By causing his subjects to be ridden and cut down for cheering his own mother — a venerable and deeply-respected Princess— Frederick William utterly destroyed bis popularity in the realm of his ancestors. Between 1831 and 1850, Countess Schaumburg boro her husband seven sons and two daughters. Early in the latter year she was created Princess of Hanau by the Emperor of Austria. On tho Elector’s death, in 1875 she inherited the whole of his enormous fortune, invested in State securities and railway stock, which will now be divided amongst her eight surviving children, the youngest of whom is a lieutenant in the Fourth Regiment of Austrian Lancers.