THE LATE QUEEN MARY OF BAVARIA.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVII, Issue 17, 16 August 1889, Page 29

THE LATE QUEEN MARY OF BAVARIA.

The Queen Mother of Bavaria died at Hohenschwangau on Fr iday (May 24) at the age of sixty-three. She was the youngest child of Prince William of Prussia (brother to Frederick William III.), and was first cousin to the late Emperor William I. " Manechen " was the child of the family until she married. She was still in short frocks when she became engaged to Crown Prince Maximilian of Bavaria, who waa almost double her age, and who had many solid, manly qualities. When she took her place in the royal household of Munich, a lovely bride of seventeen, such as she is pictured in the Gallery of Beauties collected by King Louis 1., she was looked upon and treated as a child by all. She was the greatest contrast imaginable to her husband, whose preference for philosophy brought into relief her unaffected and naive ways. Pleasant friendly intercourse and a harmonious family life were the result of the difference of character in the royal couple. Though she was sixteen years a Queen, no storien are told of ncr such as are related of other queens. Only her passionate love for th# simplest romping games is recorded. She was always fond of mountaineering. In this the attraction to her was not the beauty of the wild mountain scenery, but the pleasure she felt in showing her ability to outshine tha nobles aud the savants who formed the exclusive society of her husband, King Max. She had all tun North-Germau's delight in observing the truehearted 6imple people who live in tbe Bavarian mounting. She never rea r l ; and her libra»y, whicu cousisted exclusively of gifts, wa9 untoucaed all the year rouud. She had uo love of music, and played no mstiument, and indeed was a stranger to all the arts. If she ever visited a theatre it waa at the express wish of the King and in his society ; and since his death she has never been seen at any place of ,irnuj"meat. Generous to a fault, she always g»ve away more than the could afford with her modest means. Her modesty and unpreteatiousncss were proverbial at the Court ot Munich; she loved t) wear the same gown and the same cloak fjr years, until they were completely out of fashion, and .she never liked any but the simplest mateii.ils. She eaily showed a decided preferenci for the Catholic leligion, though she was not received into the Church until 1874. She often weut to hear sermons ia country churches, and attended Mass iong bt-fore she became a Catholic ; and it was a simple Tyrolese priest v, ho conveited her. Another country priest later gained her full eonfidencj, and she took bis advice on all questions. The Holy Father sent her his special blessing before her death, aod she received all the last consolations ot religion.

Queen Mary way as warmly devoted and blindly obedient to King Ludv\ig 11. as she had been to King Max. Fiona the day of his ac"-ccit-siou, she looked upon him more as a king than a son. If he did not pay her his accustomed visit during the day she would wait patiently until long *fter midnight, and express her delight at seeing him whenever he came, nor would she ever utter a woid of reproach. A note, the slightest attention, one kind word from him made her supremely happy and filled her with gratitude. She never complained even later, when he neglected her cruelly. She preserved all the presents he had ever given her, and her greatest happiness was to contemplate and arrange them again and again. The catastrophe of two yeai*- ago was a terrible blow to her, but she nude every effort to maintain her dignity. When she had recovered from the first shock of Ins death, it was her ouly c >intort to speak of the monuments of architecture he had lef c behind, ind to show the pictures of them to her friends. khe jong hoped for me recovery of her second son, King Otto ; indeed, she never despaired altogether— and often fulfilled the duty so painful to a mother's heart, of visiting him at Fiirstenried ; but how deeply she felt her trials is shown by the fact that she often spoke of herself as a Mater Bolorosa. All her life t>he was Biocerely attached to the lioyal House of Prussia. Althougn the sad even sof later years had made her nervous aud depressed, she was exceedingly kind and considerate to her servants to the very last, and they will ever remember htr as " Good Queen Mary." She spent the last years of her life at Hohenschwangau, which she had reluctantly abandoued to King Ludwig before he built Neuschwanstein on tbe mountain opposite, tuiing this lime the siajed at Albinger Alp, in a roomy farmhouse, which a Bavarian peasant bequeathed to her after she hid been his lodger for i-ome yeats. On one occasion the Queen and both her sous stayed at Hohenschwaugau together ; that was, perhaps, her happiest time. A fatoiy 19 told which shows how ihe mother and son humoured each other. 'Jhev were gazing out of one of the windows in tha tre-eoed hall of Hohensohwangau, with one of the finest views in the worli bifoie them — the green Schwansee in the foreground, the pinecm! nil & n fleeted in its pare surface, and above all the noble mountans suetehing on every side. The King drank in the wild beamy of lake and mountain, and raised his eyes to the sky. Ihe Queen, who never soared too higu, gased with delight at an imposing pine which

towered high above the window at which they stood. Suddenly the Queen exclaimed, " What a glorious Cnristnw-tree this would make if we could decororate it 1" The King passed his hand over bis eyes, smiled, and kiesed her. That was ia August. In December he expressed a wish to spend Christmas at Hohenschwang»u. The Queen, always willing to do what he wished, followed him thither. On Christmas Eve, with loving care, she decorated a little tT*e, and, as in the days when she was a mother of twenty, she rang the bell to her children. The great event of the evening seemed over, the lights were blown ou', when suddenly a gong sounded. King Ludwig took his mother's hand, and leading her to the window out of which they had gazed together that morning in August, he pushed back the shutters and disclosed to her astonished eyes the gigantic tree lighted with a thousand wax candles, which burned bright in the frosty night, and were reflected in the snow and icicles on teees and shrubs around. When the Queen's last will was opered, it was found that she desired to be buried in the habit of a Franciscan Tertiary instead of the black velvet and ermine usual with Bavarian Royalties.— Weekly Register.