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Show IFSSS All the Spanish Royal Family Upset Through the Latest Upheaval ' ' 1 I feMj of the 111 Luck That Has Followed the Historic Bauble Ever Since . fePSM ' I ilpf Ml Its First Owner Was Cursed for Sacking Rome Centuries Ago Ww I I I Marie Antoinette, One of the Unfortunate Un-fortunate Royal Possessors of the Necklace. PARIS, April 3. hrf HE very precious and beautiful his-8 his-8 torical pearl necklace of the Duke Charles dc Bourbon, perhaps tho most famous and Ill-omened jewel In existence, ex-istence, has been adding new chapters to - Its grim record of tragedy and ruin. " The necklace, which has been associated J with misfortune ever sinco tho days of 3 tho celebrated Sixteenth Century Duke do I Bourbon, was recently In. the possession of . I tho Prince Antonio de Bourbon-Orleanr, E 1 -.J Infante of Spain, who married the Infanta ! MjM Eulalla, aunt of King Alfonso of Spain. ! Vm The necklace was not really the prop- j VM prty of Prince Antonio, but was hold in I( trust as a iamuy noinoom, anu uu wnt j allowed access to it. This Prince, by the way, Is notorious for his dissipations and . wild oxtravagances, and has long been Separated from his wife. Ho intrusted the historic necklace to his fair companion, tho Viscountess do Tennens, and she wore it many times. Ho says that ho did this with the under-Dtandlng under-Dtandlng that tho Viscountess would always al-ways restore it to tho family safe when Bho was not wearing it. She says that he gave it to her, and she appears to have I strong evidence in support of her claim, if Tho Prince suddenly determined to sell -w ' the necklace, to raise needed money, and perhaps rid hlmsolf of its gloomy associations. associ-ations. Ho demanded that his friend should restore It, and this she refused to l0Then ho took her before a Parisian Magistrate. Judgo Cluzcl. The Judge ordered or-dered the Viscountess to return the neclc-Then neclc-Then Prince Antonio sold it to a peavl dealer, receiving $200,000 for it, which is said to bo less than one-tenth of its real V2But the Prince had not rid himself of ho ill-fortune associated with the neck-face. neck-face. He was held responsible for disposing dis-posing of this family treasuro. Spanish officials, acting at tho instigation of King Alfonso, seized his property In Spain and placed him under legal surveillance. The Prince alleges that the King prosecuted prose-cuted him in order to get possession of his private property and help to pay his (the King's) own vast debts, amounting to $50,000,000, Incurred for extravagances he dared not confess to the Spanish nQpdnce Antonio charged that his daughter-in-law, tho pretty Princess Beatrice, of j English birth and a cousin of Queen Vic- torla of Spain, had been leagued with King Alfonso In a plot to ruin him, to seize his property, to Incarcerate him in a dungeon and perhaps to end his existence. t was an astonishing recital of tho Princo, more like some mediaeval story of court Intrigue and secret crlmo than we are accustomed ac-customed to hear to-day. The Prince declared that while in the custody of a Spanish judicial officer ho f ? escaped in disguise in the middle of tho night, got into a waiting automobile, and with the aid of a friendly ship's captain was able to loave Spain. Prince Antonio Is now in Italy, engaged In a bitter legal struggle and reduced to poverty. Hl3 family, who seized his es-tates es-tates In Spain, are now endeavoring to tako similar action against his property In Franco and Italy, on the ground that he is irresponsible, and that he disposed unlawfully of tho family necklace. The Viscountess de Tennens, who long enjoyed a luxurious existence with the Prince, has bcon brought to poverty and misery. She has been dispossessed of her 1 handsome mansion, No. 48 Rue Spontini, and now occupies a little room in a dingy Hi hotel in tho Ruo St. Anne, a street well known to American soldiers, because the Provost Marshal had his headquarters headquar-ters there. Tho mother of the Viscountess Vis-countess has died in Spain of a broken heart on account of the scandal brought on her family. The Infanta Eulalla, once well known to Americans through her visit to the Columbian Exposition, has gone into hiding as a result of the vexation brought to her by her husband's troubles. Certainly not one of the historic crown jewels of Europe has a more tragic, 10-mautlc 10-mautlc and picturesque record than this Bourbon necklace. Not even tho Hope diamond or the Hapsburg opal has such an eventful history. Tho Duke Charles de Bourbon, also known as "the Constable de Bourbon," tho first Bourbon owner of the necklace, was a great man hi the time of King Francis I. of France, a cousin of the King, the richest noble In the land and a brilliant soldier. The King grew jealous of him, seized his estates and planned to kill him. Bourbon took service with the King's enemy, the Emperor Charles V.t that super king who ruled over Germany. Spain, the two Americas and much of Asia. In lo25 tho Emperor presented his new general with the famous necklace, which had been collected with infinite pains from the mighty ruler's Asiatic possessions. No sooner did the Duke de Bourbon possess pos-sess the necklace than disaster befell him 'men wore necklaces in those days. Tho Emperor made peace with the King of France and left the Duke with a hungry army of mercenaries in northern Italy. The Duke in a mad and wicked fit of desperation marched his army against Rome, which was defenseless. As ho entered tho city a venerable priest uttered a terrible enrse against him for his sacrilege, sacri-lege, condemning him to eternal torture. Immediately after this he was killed, legend has it by Benvenuto Cellini. His mercenaries ravaged tho Holy City for days, plundered the altars of churches, dressed themselves in the vestments of bishops and priests, attacked nuns and committed the most dreadful acts of sacrilege sacri-lege known In history. In a few generations tho throne of Franco fell to tho Duke's descendants, tho first King of this line being the famous ( Henri VI. Ho drew the fateful necklace' forth from a family chest and presented It to his Queen Marguerite de Valols. After she wore it, ho lost his affection for her and became fascinated with the famous Gabrlolle d'Estrees. The Queen stayed away from court and the shameless King gave the necklace to Gabrlelle. Sho expected to become Queen, for tho King had taken steps to obtain an annulment of his marriage. Gabriel d'Estrees woro the necklaco and tho next day was found dead in bed mysteriously poisoned. The King obtained his annulment and married Marie de Medici, of the famous Italian family. Sho then wore the neck- the Bourbon Necklace and the Spanish Artist, F. J. Amerigo's Extraordinary Painting of an Incident of the Sacking of Rome Which Brought Down Upon Its First Owner the y - Horrified Condemnation of the Civilized World. t lace. Her husband, while riding through the streets of Paris, found his carriage halted by a blockade. A fanatic named Ravalllac leaped Into the carriage and stabbed the King to death. Marie de Medici quarreled with her own son, King Louis VIH . who took. the necklace neck-lace from her and banished her to Italy, where she died of grief. Louis VIII. gave the necklace to his wife, Anne of Ausrria. Then occurred a dramatic chapter in its history, which is related in Dumas's famous novel. "The Three Musketeers." Tho King of England sent an envoy, tho Duke of Buckingham, known as the handsomest man in Europe, to obtain certain concessions from the King of France. The Queen gave tho fascinating' Buckingham Buck-ingham two pearls from her necklace as .a token of her esteem. Cardinal Richelieu, who disapproved of her conduct, persuaded the King to command com-mand her to appear at a State banquet wearing the jewels, meaning .that Louis would notice that certain pieces were missing. miss-ing. At the Queen's appeal the heroic musketeer, muske-teer, D'Artagnan, went to London in spite of tremendous difficulties and brought hack the jewels in time for her to wear thorn. Nevertheless the King heard of tho intrigue in-trigue and kept the Queen imprisoned until un-til his death. The necklace was next worn by tho young wife of King Louis XIV., the Princess Maria Theresa of Spain. She was quickly neglected by the King, whoso -gallantries during a long life are notorious. One chronicle states that the King permitted the earliest and most attractive of his favorites, the Duchess de la Valllere, to wear the necklace. In a short time he abandoned her and sho spent the rest of her life in seclusion and sorrow. The next King. Louis XV., made a great ceremony of placing the necklace about tho throat of his young bride, tho Princess Marie Leczlnska, daughter of the King of Poland. Then ho bogan to neglect hor cruelly, acting as his predecessor, Louis XIV. , had done toward his quoon. Sho was most unhappy in the loss of her children and, overcome with grief and shame, spent hor later years in a convent. Two of the notorious favorites of Louis XV. the Marquise de Pompadour and the Countess du Barry wore the necklaco In succession. Madame de Pompadour was deserted by the King and died miserably. Madame du Barry was similarly abandoned aban-doned and perished tragically in the great revolution, the first conspicuous victim of the guillotine. The ill-fated Queen Marie Antoinette was destined to wear the Bourbon necklace. It must not be confused with "the Queen's diamond necklaco," which so strangely involved Marie Antoinette, the Cardinal de Rohan and the necromancer Cagliostro. Nevertheless, it was reported at that time that the Queen disposed of the pearl necklace when she was first tempted to buy the diamond necklace, and that it (the former) was bought back by the King's officers. The whole transactions and intrigues relating re-lating to theso jewels, together with other extravagances of the Queen, helped to create unpopularity for herself and the King. Both perished by the guillotine and their family was overwhelmed by death and ruin. At the Bourbon restoration in lSxfi King Louis XVIII., who had spent many years in bitter exile, kept tho .necklace In seclusion, seclu-sion, and few dramatic events were associated asso-ciated with it In this period. But this King was succeeded by his brother. Charles X.. who asked his Queen to wear the famous necklace. Misfortunes immediately imme-diately 'began to fall on the family. The King's oldest son was assassinated and two others died of smallpox. In 1830 a revolution drove Charles X. from the throne, and he barely escaped with his life, leaving the family necklace to thoso who seized his palace. The Duke of Orleans, head of a younger branch of the Bourbon family, ascended the throne as King Louis Philippe. His Queen wore the necklaco at a court ball and tho next day her only son, the Duke of Orleans, was killed in an accident. A revolution turned King Louis Philippe off his throne In 1S30. Before running for his life to England, King Louis Phlllppo dispatched some of his crown jewels, including in-cluding the historic necklace, to his. kins-. mSn, the King of Spain. By the King of Spain they woro intrusted in-trusted as a family heirloom to the grandfather grand-father of the Princo Antonio of Bourbon-Orleans, Bourbon-Orleans, Infante of Spain. This gay Princo is a descendant of tho French and Spanish branches of this ancient an-cient family. He married in 3$S6 tho Infanta Eulalla, a royal princess and sister of the late King Alfonso XII. of Spain. Prince Antonio ' dc Bourbon-Orleans, Bourbon-Orleans, Who Has Boen Forced to Flee from Spain for Disposing of tho Bauble. ( For nearly twenty years Prince Antonio's gayeties have been the talk of Europe. In addition addi-tion to great wealth inherited from his family, The Infanta Eulalie, the King of Spain's Aunt, Whose ! Husband Sold the Necklace lie received an immense fortune irom an eccentric old woman, the Duchess of Galllera. All this wealth he spent recklessly reck-lessly In gambling, In entertaining frivolous frivol-ous ornaments of the Parisian stage and in similar extra vajronces. , The Infanta Eulalla complained bitterly of her husband's shameless conduct, declaring de-claring that he was entertaining a favorite within sight of her houso in Paris and spending on worthless companions money that should have been hers. She declared thut she was poverty stricken on his account ac-count and that sho would obtain a divorce. She actually wrote a book In defence of divorce. Her nephew, King Alfonso, ordered or-dered ber to retract her views on divorce under penalty of having her income from Spain stopped. After a brief show of rebellion re-bellion the unhappy woman yielded to this royal command. One of Princo Antonio's favorites was the Viscountess de Tennens, a relative o several spamsn nooie lamiuea, irum wuum . jH she was estranged. Ho quarreled with her after the undignified dispute already de- ' H Cut off by all his relatives, Including ' tho King of Spain, deprived of much of his H property, and overwhelmed with bills 'from H his creditors, tho Prince felt that he mu3t have money to keep up the extravagant H style of living to which ho had been ac-customed. ac-customed. Besides it occurred to his fev-. H ored mind that the necklace was really a haunted thing, that it would be better to be t jH freed from It. He showed it to ono of the noted pearl jH connossours of Paris. When this man of- , H fcred him 1.000,000 francs for it the Princo jumped at tho offer. Experts now say that jH the necklace Is worth 10,000,000 francs. The King of Spain is seeking to reclaim . the treasure for the Bourbon family. Is It destined to continue its career as a bringer ' of misfortune? |
