A GRAND DUCHESS AND HER THRONE

New Zealand Tablet, 28 April 1921, Page 23

A GRAND DUCHESS AND HER THRONE

THE STORY OF MARIE-OF LUXEMBOURG. The following from the pen of Rev. Father B. J. Gondringer, 5.M.,; of St. Patrick’s College, Wellington, appeared in the Dominion of the sth inst; —• Sir, -In your edition of March 29 you printed an interesting story under the heading: “Crown of, Luxembourg” : “How Grand Duchess Marie Lost It.” Perhaps you will allow a native of Luxembourg to point out that there is another version to that story. When, in 1912, Marie Adelaide, then a frail girl of 18, took the oath in the time-honored formula: “Je maintiendrai ( I will maintain”), she included her religion in her piomise, and, to her last day in Luxembourg she proved as : faithful to the latter as-she did to the Constitution under which, she ruled. Luxembourg, with a Catholic population totalling up to 99£ per cent., claims to be the most; Catholic country in the world. , Such a fact is. surely deserving of the, attention .of, a ruler who, seeks to do his duty ;by • all the , people. ~French anti-clericalism had, however, raised- its head in Luxembourg ,as . well -as, in Belgium,

?t M v - . ■ and the first manifestation of it : was a school law. aimed at the " Catholic" Church. To this law ’ the brave young girl showed a determined opposition, and this it was that laid the foundation for the hostility; evinced ■-towards her by the Socialist-cum-Liberal clique that happened to be in power. * 1 ■■ / Close on this inauspicious opening■ came'Jltho Great War. The floodgates were flung open, and in a day and a night Luxembourg ; found itself an invaded country. To rule over-a country, occupied by a foreign Power, and yet not governed by the latter, was the task set this frail girl ruler, and, if I err not, there was no, precedent in history for such a political situation. Her first duty clearly was to consult the interests of her people, to safeguard their national existence, and to minimise the . evils arising out of such an abnormal situation. That, in the •execution of this difficult task, she drew upon herself the criticism, not only of the enemies of the Crown — we have such people in Luxembourg, as you have them in New Zealand even of loyal adherents, is surely not unusual. How many regal crowns fell between the North and the Black Sea during those years! How many successive Governments rose and fell even in Allied countries! War is the fertile mother of distrust, suspicion, and hatred. To these the brave girl ruler fell a victim. She was accused of leaning unduly towards Germany, when, in the interests of her people, she was but striving to maintain a correct neutrality. Similar charges, equally groundless, were made against people of eminence in Allied countries. Mrs. Asquith’s autobiography is there to prove to us, had we not known it already, that even high-minded, loyal, and patriotic English statesmen, and their wives, were not proof against such attacks. ... \ . . 1 Beset by difficulties, hedged in by distrust, her every action misrepresented by the foreign press, her motives suspected by a section of her own people, the brave girl nevertheless stuck to her task, until that task was accomplished, and the end of the war saw Luxembourg an independent country still —a dream which, during those tragic years, we had almost given up in despair. She then resigned and withdrew to Switzerland. A plebiscite, ordered by the Allied Powers, disclosed the real strength of the opposition to her House. By an overwhelming majority (71,000 to 16,000) the people declared in favor of the ruling House against a republic. Her sister, Princess Charlotte, ascended the throne, and soon this child of the House of Orange wedded a scion of the House of Bourbon, thus uniting in Luxembourg two ancient and illustrious Houses that once guided the destinies of England, France, and Spain. ;Y Then came the announcement that the ex-Grand Duchess had entered a convent in Italy. It did not startle Luxembourg, for it had been rumored for years that she contemplated taking such a step. That one of the wealthiest women of our time, and one of the most beautiful, should bury her youth and beauty within the four walls of a Carmelite convent may seem a tragic denouement to her short, but chequered, career as a ruler’. I for one, however, feel certain that within the peaceful walls of the cloister she has found, at last, the happiness which we all prophesied for her in 1912, and of which Fate did : so tragically rob her. In her voluntary exile she retains the devoted affection of the. great majority of her former subjects. As your cavaliers .long ago drank to “the King across the water,” so in Luxembourg to-day many a glass, filled with good Moselle wine, is raised to . “our Queen across the Alps.” In her musings in her convent cell the thought that she left 'Luxembourg, as she found it, a free and independent country, will be her sweetest memory, as it will also prove to be her justification when the passions of our time have cooled down and history is written impartially. -J. .