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Show NfcWLY CROWNED QUEEN OF ROUMANIA HAS AMBITIONS TO SOME DAY BECOME A SECOND VICTORIA Kv'-'" ",u U1C new Queen of Roumania gfek' near the crown of thorns which tft'yfj la,er da' prophets have predicted or ner or WM she become another Hfea Victoria as she has aspired'' This Tffijf double and contrasted question is fifggil now ready for the answer, which WEt lies waPPed up in the reign just mk. begun In the little Balkan kingdom. HS There are numerous indications Kii that the aspiration of Queen Marie. jWSfji once so well founded on the admlr- IgSSik atlon of the Roumanians, is destined gfflfl to meet with bitter disappointment. It is said that the new Queen, as Hg w011 35 King Ferdinand, the ruler HNR of only the last few days, Is very HBrei unpopular. Too great ambition, IHBi bearing the aspects and much of MBa the embodiment of cynicism, HMO haughtiness and a certain contempt lawn for the people over which she now BQ' rules, seemingly has overshot the ggjjfig mark. t mR Rut it was only natural that she BHi Who Was almost unanimously hailed as the most beautiful and HH charming Princess of all Europe HH should have built castles of unus- nal regal splendor in the air And it was only natural that at first the people of one of Europe's backyard back-yard nations should have been dazzled daz-zled by the promises of magnificence which came to them when their Crown Prince in 189 married the highborn and beautiful Princess. For was she not the granddaughter granddaugh-ter of Queen Victoria and a descendant de-scendant of the Czars of all the Russias? What more natural than thut the little king should be proud Of Its new national dynasty, bound by direct blood connection with the dynasties of Russia and England? In the sumptuousness of the wedding wed-ding there were promises that the dreams of future greatness on both sides should be realized. N'ever had any English Princess had so magnificent a trousseau as this daughter of the Duke of Edinburgh and of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Her father gave Jier a vast fortune, and this, with her great personal at-tractloiK at-tractloiK and accomplishments, made her the idol o the gay and frivolous capital of Bucharest, The poor Crown Prince was completely com-pletely overshadowed, not that he cared a great lot, for it was a match of the hand and not of the heart It had taken him two years to screw his courage up to the sticking point in the matter of giving up tho woman wom-an he really loved, Mile. Helen Va-caresco, Va-caresco, the favorite lady of honor of Carmen Sylva, the Poet-Queen. But the wish of King Charles and his powerful oligarchy prevailed, though it Is said the Queen was greatly disgusted with the whole affair af-fair and wrote to the Prince after his betrothal that she never wanted to sec him again. Mile Vacareseo belonged to one of Roumania's most noble and historic families, and the Idealistic Queen could not understand under-stand wherein her favorite companion compan-ion lacked the qualifications necessary neces-sary in a future ruler. But Kings do sometimes have their way, and so Charles' nephew and heir married tnc foi'eign Princess. Prin-cess. This nephew of the King Is the son of Prince Leopold of Hohen-zollern, Hohen-zollern, whose candidacy for the r Spanish throne brought on the Franco-Prussian War. Prince Ferdinand Fer-dinand was adopted by the King and Queen of Roumania on tho death of their only child, a little girl of 4. in 1889. Despite the little drawbacks of the Crown Princes romance, and the fact that his wife's name had earlier been linked with the future fu-ture Czar, and then with the future King of Italy, it was a cloudless wedding day when the 17-year-old Princess put a crown in front of her title. The King was so pleased with his new relative that ho showered honors upon her, among other things making her honorary Colonel of one of the crack regiments regi-ments of his army, the Fourth Roumanian Rou-manian Hussars. Tthe Crown Princess Prin-cess was no less fitted to head tho regiment than she was to lead the dance of all the beauty and bravery of the couit. She was a fine horse-woman, horse-woman, and nowhere presented a better appearance than riding surrounded sur-rounded by her regimental staff on review daya t The popular favor Increased when the stork sought out the home of the Crown Prince and Princess and made it the object of his most earnest attention. Not the least of the inheritance of the two Princes and the three Princesses which were born of the royal union was a large measure of their mother's beauty and charm. But in the meantime clouds had feared their threatening head above the horizon. The pride of the newcomer new-comer of tho realm had begun to grate on the popular feeling. Her strong Russian Interests soon met with flagrant opposition on the part of the King and his government. Tho Legislature was called upon to enact a law to prevent the Crown Princess from having any share In the regency in the event of her firstborn first-born son succeeding to the throne while still a minor. It became evident evi-dent that all effort.-- were being put forth to destroy the mother's inllii-ence inllii-ence over the future ruler. The Princess demanded her maternal ma-ternal rights, and it was rumored at one time her Insistence biought her and her husband to tho separating point. The Prlnco. being a Hohen-rollern, Hohen-rollern, looked with disfavor on her Romanoff programme. It Is said also that the Crown Prince, now the King, has neer been able completely to forget his first love. At tho same time, when rumors of an agreement upon a divorce di-vorce were heard, there were told ttorles of the Crown Pnn . s intention inten-tion to renounco his succession to the throne. There was a widespread belief that he was trjing to figure out a way for his hand to follow his .heart. So completely has the order of things Cham;,., since Marie became Crovn Princess of Roumania that it is now said all the admiration the people once felt for her Is directed toward her rival, the beautiful and noble Helen Vacareseo. Even those who mosl 1 itrly opposed tho marriage mar-riage cf the Prince and the maid of honor at the time, now do not hesitate hes-itate to Bfty She would have been just the Queen of Roumania. |
