Famous Romances of Royal Houses.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16748, 1 June 1922, Page 6

Famous Romances of Royal Houses.

The Archduke Henry and Leopoldine Hoffmann. Emperor Franz Joseph Defied. (By R. L. HADFIELD). This is the story of the Archduke Henry, the talented but eccentric cousin of the late Emperor Francis Joseph. For the love that he had for the ravishingly beautiful Viennese dancer, Leopoldine Hoffmann, he cut himself off from Court favour, retiring into obscurity after his marriage and occupying himself with artistic pursuits. He was the author of many remarkable pieces of poetry.

The loves of the ill-fated House of Habsburg were rarely happy unless fixed upon some object beneath their station in life. It is notorious that the married life of the late Emperor Francis Joseph was an entire failure; for twenty years his beautiful consort, the Empress Elizabeth, lived almost entirely estranged from him, their intercourse being merely that of polite strangers. Of the twenty-two Archdukes who circled around the Emperor, it was said that not one. except the Archduke Johan, lived in married happiness. There was, however, one striking exception to this sad record of connubial infelicity. The name of the Archduke Henry, cousin of the Emperor, was never mentioned at Court after the year 1889. In June of that year it was accidentally revealed to the Emperor that he had contracted a morganatic alliance with one of the most beautiful eoryphees of the Vienna Opera House—Leopoldine Hoffmann, a romantic young girl of intellectual abilities far out of the ordinary. The story of the- events that led up to their marriage are well worth telling in some detail. THE BALLET DANCER. The Imperial Opera. House in Vienna was, up to the time of the revolution that deprived the Emperor Karl of Ins crown, maintained by the House of Habsburg. The late Emperor himself cared little ferr either grand opera or the attraction* of the wonderful corps de ballet, which rivalled in grace the celebrated Imperial Ballet that was at one time the glory' of St. Petersburg. Ever since the old Emperor fell under the fascinations of red-haired Madam Se.hr a tt, she had weaned him away from matters theatrical. But the same could not be said of the numerous Archduke* who composed his Court, for it was notorious cafe gossip in Vienna that more than one illustrious relative of the Emperor had formed friendships with some of these fascinating little figures that flitted behind the footlights of the noble <>pera House. In the year 1888 the ballet-master of the theatre had an application for a position made to him by a' young girl afterwards famous in Vienna as Leopoldine Hoffmann. Her mother wa* a Polish lady; it was whispered that her father was a personage of high rank. At the age of seventeen she was enrolled in the ballet, and very quickly her incredible graces, birdlike lightness of movement, and wonderful beauty, won her a foremost place in a ballet justly reputed to have contained some of the loveliest women to be found on the Continent.

In the midst of the conversation a chance reference to the lovely Leopoldine Hoffmann aroused the interest of the Archduke Henry. Ho was amazed to hear from the lips of some of the revellers that not merely had she resisted all the blandishments of the banker’s son, but that neither costly gift ndr promises of worldly advantage, nor all the alluring things which wealth could offer, could tempt her from the path of virtue. AVith a sudden impulse—perhaps one- of the strange working* of fate —the Archduke felt a desire to know more of this woman who combined beauty and virtue with a position of life so fraught with peculiar temptations. Through the agency of the Crown Prince, the next evening the Archduke was conducted behind the scenes, and there for the first time he saw Leopoldine Hoffmann away from the deceitful glamour of the footlights- Hers was a beauty of that rare quality that did not need the half light of the footlights to enhance it. She shone resplendent in youth and purity, and in a moment the cold heart of the Archduke Henry was filled with a rush of tumultuous feeling that he could not understand. And she-—she who had repulsed men. who had been compelled by the bitter experience through which she had passed, to regard all men with suspicion—felt a sudden sensation of tenderness take possession of her as she gazed shyly upon the handsome and distinguished face of this representative of the House of Habsburg. They met again under circumstances of privacy, and their mutual passion ripened with all the suddenness and ardour of two temperaments that are in harmony. te We must have loved for ever • - how is it possible that I have lived without you? ” he was writing to the lovely Leopoldine at the end of a. few weeks. And she in response was able t-o pour out her passionate young sonl in such vehement words as: “ My adored lover, foj* you I could die. and yet T feel that for you I must live, that in some small degree. I may as you say help you in your life. But as to marriage —alas, that is out of the question. T am only a poor ballet dancer, and you are the near connection of an Emperor. THE IDYLL. At first the Archduke Henry resolutely excluded from hi* mind the possibility that this mutual love could be crowned by the holy ordinance of marriage. It was a pure and sacred intimacy—an idvll as beautiful as those spring and early summer months when they wandered hand in hand through the fields of the valleys that surround Vienna. And then one day there came to his ears some of the malicious gossip that ever ripples round Court circles. The Envperor sent for him, and with the coarse humour which distinguished hiiti, rallied the Archduke on the fact that at last he was ensnared by a woman. The Emperor proceeded to congratulate his cousin that he had shown such good taste a* to choose for his mistress the incomparable Hoffman, the star of the ballet. The Habsburg* have always been noted for their uncontrollable gusts of passion. Forgetful of the deference that he owed to his cousin as Emperor, the Archduke poured out a stream of burning resentment upon the astonished monarch, and then rushed out of the royal presence and sought out his lover. He had but one idea clearly in his mind. They must be married, and married immediately. The foul breath of slander must not tarnish the fair name of this woman whom he loved to the point of distraction. But he met with unexpected opposition . When lie told Leopoldine of tin* stories that were circulating, and when he emphasised the fact that their happiness must he crowned at whatever cost by marriage, she sadly shook her head and said that it was impossible. Bewildered and astounded, he demanded to know whv she should refuse the happiness that was offered her. It was then, with the self-abnegation of the true woman, that she pointed out to him the consequences that such a step would involve. It was well-known that the Emperor would never forgive his cousin if fie married out of the blood royal, and moreover it was an open secret that a bride bad already been chosen for the Archduke Henry. But no entreaties, nor dwelling upon the consequences of the act-, could move the Archduke. “We must he married immediately,’’ he. said doggedly, and at. last, against her convictions but carried away by the ardent pleading of her lover, she consented to become hi* bride. THE WEDDING. The marriage took place in Vienna in Juno, 1889. After a. romantic honeymoon spent, in the Tyrol, the couple returned to the city where the Archduke had taken an apartment under an assumed name. Almost immediately on his return, he asked for an audience with the Emperor. It must have been a curious and disturbing scene. In accordance, with the rigid etiquette in vogue in Austria, the bridegroom had dressed himself carefully in the full uniform of the regiment of which he was colonel. In addition he wore the many Orders and decorations conferred upon him on different occasions by the Emperor. He found the head of hi* house seated in the small cabinet in which lie transacted State business. In a few words the Archduke told his cousin that in defiance of etiquette and against the express command of the Emperor, lie had married. “And whom?” iri an icy voice, inquired the emperor. “ have you had the supreme audacity to wed without my permission ?” “ Leopoldine Hoffman, the dancer,” was the steady response. In a towering passion the Emperor poured out. his wrath upon his cousin. In coarse language he described what would he the result of the union, and then with his hand trembling with paseion wrote out an order of dismissal, stripping the Archduke of all the favours that ho enjoyed a.s a near kinsman of the Emperor, and at the same time banishing him from the kingdom. Then pointing with a shaking linger

It will be readily understood that the temptations Jjssailling a. young and beautiful ballet dancer in a gay city such as Vienna wore many and varied. But Leopoldine remained chaste as snow, resisting the blandishments of many of the gilded youths of the city, and after her work at the theatre was finished, demurely went home to her apartments in company with an elderly aunt who acted as her chaperoneAfter she had been at the theatre some six months, she unwittingly became the central figure in a sensation that fascinated and intrigued the Viennese boulevards. A young man. the. pampered son of an, enormously wealthy banker, besieged her day after day -with offers of friendship. He sont her costly presents of jewellery and flowers. They were returned. He waited patiently for her each evening at the stage door. A stream of missives, each breathing the most impassioned and undying love, reached her by special messengers. She sent them back with chilly messages. At last, in a moment of despair, the youth forced his way with a revolver in hand into the dressing-room where she and some of her companions were resting after an exa-erting dance. As he entered, with his face deathly pale and his eyes burning, she gave a faint scream. Walking straight up to her he cried out, in a strangled voice : ‘‘l cannot live without you . - we must both die.” He fired the weapon straight at her. Providentially, in the moment of pulling the trigger, one of the ballet dancers knocked up his arm. and the bullet passed through the ceiling. With a despairing cry he turned the pistol upon himself, and sank dying upon the floor. This was Leopoldine’s first introduction to the madness of passion roused by unrequited love. THE ARCHDUKE HENRY. The Archduke Henry was a true Habsburg. Tall and slender, with the golden hair and blue eyes of his House, ho also possessed in a marked degree the artistic qualities for which so many of this dynasty have been famous. Also, he had inherited from his father, the famous Archduke Ferdinand Henry, that deep melancholy of temperament and strange impatience of conventionalities that also is so strikingly displayed in those that bear the ancient name of Habsburg. In the year '.hat the tragedy of the banker’s son occurred the Archduke Henry was twenty-five years of age. He was a. great favourite with the Emperor Francis Joseph, and as a mark of special favour was allowed to consort with that spoiled child of fortune, the Crown Prince Rudolf—that dark and wayward figure destined to meet his death under terrific and tragic circumstances in. the Royal chateau of Aleyerling. There was undoubtedly a. great bond of affection between the Archduke Henry and the Grown Prince until it was sundered by the smiles of a lovely woman. The Archduke Henry and the Crown Prince Rudolf were frequent visitors to the opera, but while the former went that he might satisfy the deep yearnings of his soul with the incomparable melodies of the great masters of musicand the lovelv spectacles that were the glorv of this theatre, the heir to the dual crown of Austro- Hll ngnry went frankly in search of adventures. Tt was laimhincdv said in Court circles at this time that no woman's smile or languishing look had ever stirred the cold heart of the Archduke Henry. “ WE MUST HAVE LOVED FOR EVER.” While all Vienna was ringing with the tragedy of the mad end of the banker’s son. the Grown Prince and the Archduke went together to a select little supper party in one of the most exclusive restaurants in thp cit t v. As the champagne circulated, the conversation grew more and more free, and turned upon intrigues in which

happy! *’ e< I believe we shall he,’ retorted the Archduke, with icy self-pos-sesion, and so left the presence of the Emperor whom he was destined never to see again. HAPPINESS IN OBSCURITY. Stripped of his titles, yet retaining the inestimable love of his wife, which no one could take from him, the A duke went into obscurity. For some time he and Leopoldine lived in Switzerland, and it was then he wrote some of the poem* which gained for him the reputation of a real poet. He also devoted (himself to landscape painting, and there is a curious story told of a beautiful painting that was hung in the Vienna Salon and which attracted the notice of the Emperor. He asked the director of the Art Gallery who was the painter. There was an awkward silence until at last the halting answer was given : 4t The Archduke Henry.” The Emperor turned away without a word. After many years of happiness the Archduke Henry passed peacefully away, and within a few months his faithful consort followed him to the grave. They lie buried side by side »n a quiet churchyard, for when the old Emperor heard of the death of lii.s kinsman, even this did not quench his resentment, and he refused to allow the dust of the Archduke Henry to rest in the Chapel of the Habshurgs at Ishl. Thus ended the romance of thi* l>esfc and most artistic, and perhaps happiest, of the ill-fated House of Habsburg.