A ROMANCE OF ROYALTY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10018, 14 April 1910, Page 7

A ROMANCE OF ROYALTY.

A good deal has been heard during the past ir.onths about the aged Em.peror of Austria, so that the book purporting to reverl "Tne Real .Francis Joseph" in .private life, by Henri de Weindel, is of more than usual .interest. The romantic story of the Emperor and hia .ilWated Empress Elizabeth and the Hapsburg family is translated in a pleasing style, and has all the charm of a work of fiction, with real instead of fancied characters. Much of what appears does so for the first time, and id valuable in completing, the details of one of the most fascinating romances of royalty ever played out on tne great theatre of lite. Albeit the title of the book concerns the Emperor, it is really his wile, the Express Elizabeth, who gives the story its atmosphere of romance. But fjr the presence of this wonderful human figure the dran a would te, indeed, grim and sordid. It is sufficiently well known that when the young Emperor of Austria married he did so in face of great opposition. His bride, the Duchess Eliazbeth of Bavaria, was ' not the choice of the Emperor's mother, the Archduchess Sophia, and in consequanc3 ,no sooner had the marriage taken than this cold, heartless, and ambitious woman began a hostile campaign against the young girl. "The age of. this proud, haughty • and clever girl was but seventeen; when the Imperial crown was put upon her head.. She had, therefore, no experience to fit her to struggle against petty Court conspiracy, and what was worse, the cruel Machiavellian designs of her mother-in-law. Instead of coming forward and making known the desires of her heart, she took refuge in an attitude of hostile dignity, to which both pride and timidity contributed their s.'.ares. Love had brought her to Francis Joseph, and it was the realisation of this love above all, which she innocently craved. Her hopes were for charming sensations and romantic satisfactions, and she thought that .the story which had opened so poetically would continue like a real fairy story." Disillusion came quickly, and it the knowledge that sue was Empress in name only. The real Empress, in power and in effect, was her tyrannical mother-in-law. £And ie whole Court, taking their cue from this womaD, seized every opportunity to vex, wound and humiliate her whom fathe were already calling, on the initiative of the Archduchess, "the little goose from Bavaria." But it was the Court etiquette that provided the Archduchess with her most formidable weapon to subdue te heart of the girl-Empress. She lecured her daughter-in-law in tne presence of the whole Court. She forbade her to ride alone, and curtailed her freedom in all possible ways. The Empress was only, 18 when her i first child was born. With most women motherhood is a joy. "The young Empress found in her child bearing not happiness, but disiilus ion.'* The love of the Emperor, which had been alienated from her, was farther removed when the child proved to be a girl, and not a son and heir. Home consolation she found in an intense for her little girl, hut a fresh fear assailed her. "Her refuge in this lovs, in spite of all her efforts to cling to it with fast shut eyes could not bring back peace to her heart. A terrible anguish gained possession of her, and she believed that the husband to whom she had failed to give a son woull divorce her, as Napoleon had once divorced Josephine." A MOTHER'S MARTYRDOM. This fear was allayed, however, and three years later a son was born. But even as her first girl brought sorrow, so did her first boy. The Erapress wished to personally superintend her son Rudolf's education. She even obtained the cemeent of the

Emperor to do so. But the old Archduchess intervened. "I cannot agree to it," she said. "But, madame," returned the mother, "he is my son." To which the Archduchess returned, "He is not your son; he is the heir to thetnrone." So the sacred right of bringing up her son was denied the Empress. He was handed over to the Archduchess, who, it seems, easily persuaded the Emperor to cancel the permission givento his wife. This. with other disagreements, was more than the harassed Empress could endure, and she took refuge from her accumulation of troubles in flight. For years she led a wandering life, travelling to ease the burden that lay on her heart. She was to return to theilmpe.riai Palace later, however. The entrusting of little Rudolf's upbringing to the Archduchess did not prove a success, and the Emperor, who was beginning to feel theab' sence of his wife, recalled her to Vienna, holding out the promise of allowing her to take charge of her son. The home-coming of the Empress was not a happy matter, however. The Archduchess, besides bringing the boy up badly, had steadily calumniated his mother to him. : H3o <that>it was as a monster she crossed ithe threshold to greet her son. She held out her arms, "Kiss me, darling. .ThiS'time mamma has come back for good." The poor woman imagined that a shout of joy wuuld be the answer to her loving speech Instead the child came forward coldly, scowling, sullen-eyed, and tight-lipped, and did not even return her kisses. SuddeiiJy rhf recognised the quarter from which tt ,e blow came. Wounded though she war,, she did not give way to despair. Sha had returned, she meant to stay, and since there w<s to be war, she would 'fight for victory to the utmost of her strength. And as far as was possible under the circumstances victory >was hers. His mother's loveliness conquered the wilful and morbid nature .of Rudolf, and in a little time he was her devoted slave. ißut the wretched way in which he had been brought up could not .be counteracted, and later on his beautiful mpther was to mourn his death under the most horrible circumstances. As we should say, KurJolf "turned out badly,"' and all the misery of his unhappy marriage, his sordid intrigues, his dissoluteness, and violent end added to the Empress' burden, surely one of the greatest ever borne by a woman. And her end, how pitiable' To fa!J„ as she did, by the hand of an assassin! Was not this the culminating stroke o| a malign Destiny?