LONDONER’S LETTER TO PRINCESS WINS HIM AN INTERVIEW.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18939, 9 December 1929, Page 5

LONDONER’S LETTER TO PRINCESS WINS HIM AN INTERVIEW.

DAUGHTER OF PROUD FAMILY NOW WORKS AS A HOUSEMAID. (United Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) VIENNA, December 7. Princess Ida Sulkowski, a daughter of one of the proudest and wealthiest families of old Imperial Austria, is now forced to work as a housemaid for five shillings a week. She has just received a romantic, passionately phrased proposal of marriage from a Londoner, who recently read of her plight. He had not seen her, and did not know until he received her reply, most gracefully enlightening him, that she was forty-eight years of age. The Princess was touched by the chivalry of the offer of the unknown suitor. She replied that she had felt bound to say that the young and beautiful girl of his dreams no longer existed. The reply was brief, but with a hint of happiness to come: “You seek in me a maiden still young. Disappointment awaits you. A woman of fortyeight speaks, but the door of further happiness remains open. I will grant you an interview at any time. Sincere regards. Ida Sulkowski.” Unhappiness has indeed aged and saddened a beautiful face. The life of the Princess has been similar in some respects to that of the unfortunate Princess Victoria Zoubkoff. She di\ T orced her first husband after the mysterious death of their only child. Her second romance was equally tinhappy. Her third marriage, to a Polish aristocrat, led to a life of cruelty. But great kindness still gleams out of the tired eyes, which retain the light of unquenchable courage. The Princess remains a housemaid, and the housemaid remains a princess.