The Sun.
London, England, 1866-03-26 00:00:00

Queen Marie Amelie.

The Queen of his late Majesty King Louis
Philippe of France has just now ended in tranquil-
lity d life of many and great vicissitudes.
Marie Arnelie de Bourbon was the daughter of
Ferdinand the Fourth of Naples, Third of Sicily,
and First of the United Kingdom of the Two
Sicilies. Her mother was Marie Caroline, Arch-
duchess of Austria, the imperious daughter of Maria
Theresa, and sister of Marie Antoinette and of the
Emperors Joseph and Leopold. If Ferdinand was
the nominal ruler of his kingdom, Marie was

he real Sovereign. How, in spite of her husband

and his Cabinet, she served Nelson in his hour
of need at the instigation of Lady Hamilton
will be remembered by all Englishmen. Marie
Amelie, the future Queen of the French, was one
of five sisters, who were most carefully educated
under the care of Madame d'Ambrosio. She
early displayed the germs of those amiable quali-
ties which distinguished her in after-life. " We
three sisters," said on one occasion the widow of
Charles Felix, King of Sardinia, to M. Donnet,
Archbishop of Bordeaux, " we three sisters in our
childhood were called respectively la bella, la dotta,

and la santa. La santa was Marie Amdlie." The
political storms amid which this Princess passed her
early years make the beginning of her life resemble
to some extent the youth of her future husband.

She was scarcely 10 years of age when, in 1792, the
French fleet, commanded by Admiral de la Touche
Treville, appeared in the Bay of Naples; and from
that time onwards, during the period of the first
victories of Napoleon, the Royal Family of Naples
were kept in a state of perpetual anxiety and alarm.
At length, on the conquest of Naples by the French
troops under General Championnet in 1798, Ferdi-
nand and his Queen fled into Sicily with their chil-

dren. The Princess Marie An:ilie remained at
Palermo with her mother during the first Neapolitan
revolution, and even for some time after the victories
of Suwarrow in Northern Italy had compelled the
French troops to depart from Naples. In the month
of June, 1800, the Queen and her daughters went
to Vienna, where they remained for two years, re-
turning to Naples, in 1802. Renewed political
outbreaks compelled the Royal family again to
retire into Sicily, and it was during this second
period of residence there that the Princess Marie
Arnelie for the first time met-the Duke of Orleans,
like herself, an exile from his country.
In 1808, on his return from the burial in Malta
of his brother the Comte de Beaujolais, Louis Phi-
lippe received a cordial invitation from Ferdinand
to pay a visit to Palermo. He did so, and soon
gained the affections of the second of the King's
daughters. There appears to be no doubt as to the
motives of Queen Caroline in eventually sanctioning
their union. It was not tobe expected that the sister
of Marie Antoinette and the wife of a Bourbon
King could look with much favour on the son of
one who took a chief part in the persecution of her
sister, and in the execution of the King. On the
other hand, it has been said that the shrewd Queen
early saw the strong points in the character of the
Duke of Orleans, and thought that, amid the perils
which at the moment surrounded her family, it
would be well to attach to their interest a man of
his tact and experience. Whatever may have been
her motives, there is no doubt as to the motives of
the young people themselves. Their marriage was
one purely of affection. Amid all the political mis-
fortunes which afterwards overtook them, their do-
mestic happiness was never for a moment disturbed
and their household virtues became proverbial in
Europe. The marriage took place at Palermo, on
November 25, 1809 ; and the Duke and Duchess
continued to reside there until 1814, in the enjoy-
ment of a greater amount of tranquillity than had
hitherto fallen to the lot of either. InlBl4 the resto-
ration of the House of Bourbon summoned the head
of the younger branch of the family from this
state of comparative seclusion, and established him
in his due position in France. In the month of Sep-
tember of this year the Duchess of Orleans arrived
in her adopted country, but it was not long before
the events of the Hundred Days compelled her to
take refuge with her children in England, whence
she did not return to Paris till the commencement
of the year 1817. From this time down to the Revo-
lution of July her residence was in, France, where
she attracted the esteem and love even of the ene-
mies of the House of Orleans by the simple beauty
of her life, her gentle piety, and unwearying charity.
It has been asserted that in 1830 her Legitimist
tendencies led her to view the revolution with sor-
row, though it tended to her own elevation. She
is even said to have expressed a strong repugnance
to share a throneto which, according to her ideas of
right, she had no claim. Whatever truth there may
be in these assertions, the unalterable devotion
which Marie Amelie bore to her husband, whether
in prosperity or in adversity, overcame all her
scruples, and she determined on the path of conduct
she was for the future to adopt. She took no part
in political affairs, but devoted herself to the edu-
cation of her children and to works of charity.
It was the Queen's unhappy fate, ere she had
been many years en the throne, to have her tenderest
feelings wounded by more than ono domestic
affliction. In 1839 the beautiful and accomplished
Princess Marie died, and in 1842 a strange and
melancholy accident led to the death in the Queen's
arms of her eldest son, and to the destruction with
him of the best security for the House of Orleans.
Bitter as was this sudden blow it served only‘to
bring out in stronger colours the beauty of the
Queen's nature. She felt that there was one on
whom the blow had fallen with even more stunning
severity, and she devoted herself to soothe and
comfort her afflicted daughter-in-law. A few years
more and she had to display courage of a different
sort—a courage and dignity which seemed to belong
to her race, and which offered a strong contrast to
the irresolution of the King. Lamartine, in glow-