ALL FOR LOVE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3336, 30 September 1911, Page 9

ALL FOR LOVE.

MEN AND WOMEN WHO PREFERRED HOME TO THRONE. ' THE WIVES -OF KINGS. In the history of England aldne, there are instances of several more or less lowly-born maidens who became the wives of kings, and were raised to R-oyal rank. „ . , There was ill-fated, pretty, frivolous Anne Boleyn,' the second wife of Henry VIII. She .was only a humble maid-of-honor, and the daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn, when the .Ring married her. While her successor, Jane Seymour, was of even less exalted birth, the daughter of an ■ untitled gentleman — Seymour of Wolf Hull. Then, Anne Hyde, mother of two queens, Mary and Anne —and the first wife of James 11., was merely tho daughter of a nobleman, Lord Clarendon, and not a princess of tho blood royal. . ■ VVitliin the memory of people still living there have been many other instances of royalties who thought everything w-ell lost for love. The late Duke of Cambridge, uncle on her mother’s side of our Queen Mary, did what in those days was an almost unheard of thing for a man of rank. He fell in love with and married the beautiful actress, Miss Louisa Fail-brother, at a time, too, when he stood veriy near to the English crown. It was an ideal love-match and the Royal Duke and his humbly-born wife lived in the greatest happiness until her death. DEFIED THE CZAR. Then right in our midst, at Kenwood, the beautiful Hampstead house which for some years pa-st they have rented from Lord Mansfield, live a qouple who braved the Czar’s displeasure because of their love for each other, the Grand-Duke Michael, of Russia and his charming, morganatic wife. Countess Torby, both well-known figures in London society. Not long ago, thanks, it is said, to the intervention of King Edward, who was a great friend of the Grand Duke’s, he was forgiven by the present Czar, and restored to h.is rank and military honors. A WELL-KNOWN LOVE STORY. Not so very long ago the love-story of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his charming wife, the Duchess of Hohenburg, was told. Before her marriage, the Duchess was Countess Sophie Chotek, a lady-in-waiting to the Archauke’s cousin. The aged Emperor of Austria was anxious that his heir should marry the Princess Sophie of Bavaria, a daughter of the late Duke Carl Theodore'. But the lady and Franz Ferdinand had other. views, and when the Archduke announced his* intention of marrying the charming lady-in-waiting, there was a tremendous to-do. Since her marriage, the Duchess has displayed the most wonderful tact, and now ue aged Emperor is very fond of her and her children, and year by year her position in Austria is improving. The Kaiser, too, has proved her friend, and she was not long ago received with Royal honors at Berlin. WILL SHE BE QUEEN? But what will happen on the death of the Emperor, and the accession of her husband, is what all Europe is wondering. One thing is certain. Franz Ferdinand will fight hard to have her crowned Queen of Austria-Hungary. Soon after the Archduke’s marriage, Princess Sophie of Bavaria, who would not marry the Archduke Franz Ferdinand for a Crown, married for love Count Toring-Jettenbach, a keen student of chemistry, who lias a wonder-fully-appointed laboratory fitted up at Munich, where he spends a great deal of his time in scientific research and experiments. In these he is often helped by his devoted wife. Then Prince Oscar of Sweden married Miss Ebba Munck, a lady-in-wait-ing to his mother, Queen Sophia. In order to do this he renounced all claim ,to the Swedish throne, and dropped the title of Royal Highness. The Prince and Miss Munck came to England, and were married at Bournemouth, and since those days they have devoted themselves to good works. Both take the warmest interest in the work of the Salvation Army. In Sweden they are beloved everywhere, and they are known throughout Europe for their work as missionaries. A FAIRY-TALE MARRIAGE. And everyone knows the love-story of the late. Emperor Napoleon 111. and the Empress Eugenie, . which certainly reads rather like a fairy-tale. The Empress has no Royal blood in her veins, but is the daughter of a highly-born Spanish noble, the Count de Monti jo, and on her mother’s side a granddaughter of a Scottish merchant in Malaga)’ a “Kirkpatrick of Closebum.” I: The Countess of Montijo and her lovely daughter, soon after they settled in Paris,’ became well' known in Royal circles. j One day the Emperor and Mademoiselle de Vfontijo were walking at Compeigne, when he asked her if she had ever had a serious attachment. “I should deceive you, sire,” she answered, “if I did not confess that my heart has been touched even more than once. But I have never forgotten that I am Mademoiselle de Montijo.” “Then, mademoiselle, you shall be an empress,” be responded gallantly, as he broke off a branch from a hedge, twisted in into a crown, and placed it upon her head, saying, “while you wait for the other.” A “LADY OF SORROW.” For nearly forty years the Empress, a saddened woman, has dwelt amongst us. From the splendors of the wonderful Second Empire Court she * came to Chislehurst, where even greater sorrows than the loss of a throne befell IG For the Emperor, an exile from France, died there in: 1873, and in 1879 cam 1 the tragic death oi her only son, the Prince Imperial, while fighting with the British force against the Zulus. V . A'ROMANTIC STORY. Several royal ladies have reversed tho old story of King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid, and laid aside rank and riches in order to marry the men they love. , The Infanta Josephine, grand-aunt of the,present-King of Spain, was one of them. She married a journalist and poet named Jose Guelly Rente, The Infanta was as beautiful as she was highly-born, and at first she refused Don Jose’s love. But after a time she gave way and married tho devoted, if lowly-born, poet. The romance ended happily. The bride’s family soon forgave them, and the poet and his royal wife were almost ideally happy. . . / Crowns often bring sadness a.nd' sorrow with them, and those who have renounced, rather than gained, a crown for love, are sometimes far happier than those who fill more exacted positions. -'