Delaware state journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1870-1883, 1874-02-21
ITALY'S AMOR0US KING.
His MorganAtlc AlliaHss With an Actress
Whom He Has Made 0Ountess-TrOuble in
the Family.

n tVAANcRhhuNnt VI NuN NNn VI a DaNH
Grqphic writing from Rome, gives numer-
Gus details Of the row raised in the
ITALIAN Royal Household over the publi-
cation In the Vlmanach de Gothd of Victor
Emmanuel's mOrganatic marriage with
the Countess Mirafiori. This " "Alman-
ach" is the recognized directory of
royalty, and the {" best blood" of Italy is
boiling at this semi-ofIicial recognition of
the ex-actress who has heen for SO many
years mistress of the King as a quasi
Queen. With this as his [or herl text,
the correspondent In question proceeds to
gossip with great frankness concerning
the character and domestic relations of
Victor Emmanuel, whom he describes as
a coarse, immoral, perfectly honest and
thoroughly brave soldier" who Is inca
pable OF cowardly act, who never lied
TO or betrayed a man and never broke his
word. He Is more of soldier than a
statesman, but has shown the highest
KinRly wisdom, from the modern
standpoint, By nevsr intermeddlipg
NTH public affairs. He is blunt beyond
the verge of consequences. When he
was at the English Court they tried to
marry him to the Princess OF Cambridge,
now the Princess of Teck, and instead OF
discussing the topic with delicate, diplo-
matte and courtly phrases, he h0rrifed
the Englishman by remarking, "Why,
that woman would sit on all the seven
hills of Rome at once l''-which was a
rather uncivil way of limiting that she
was too fat to please his not very fastidi-
Gus taste.
He hates ceremonlals of all sorts and
especially State dinners. His chief amuso-
ment is hunting, of which he is extremely
fond and IN which ha davnfaa Tho nraatnr
part of his time.
His family consists of the heir-appa-
rent, Prince Humbert, who is a dlssolute
and not very popular young man Prince
Amadeus, the gallant and honest ex-king
of Spain, who resigned the crown in
preference TO abOllshing the constitution,
as his ministers urged him to do and his
two daughters -one the wife of Prince
Napoleon and the other the wife OF the
King of Portugal. lie has another
family, however, by the Countess of
Mirafori, aud here is where the NOR
ganatic marriage aud its recognition by
the Alnlandch dc Gofhd pinches.
That the King Is extremely loose In his
relations with the women Is notorious.
When, after the battle of Volturpo, be
was to review the army of Garbaldi,
which had given to him Naples and
Sicily, he permitted the troops to be
paraded and kept waiting for him in vain
until 1t was necessary to send them back
to their barracks and abandon their
scheme of a review. He had met pretty
woman at Capua, and had forgotten all
about the review. The fact that this ex
cuse was readily accepted by the Italians,
shows, better than a column of scandal
Gus chronicles, the character Of the
Kings conduct in respect to women.
Rosina, Countess Mirafori, had been
the mistress of Victor Emmanuel for
nearly twenty years, until in September,
1869, he was prevailed upon by his con-
fessor 10 marry her, at time when he
was so i'll of fever that his recovery was
very doubtful. She was originally an
obscure actress at a Turin theatre, and
was in her youth a stout wholesome
| looking girl, who has since developed into
a coarse, fat woman. The King has al
ways been ardently attached 10 her, and
she has borne him a number OF children.
By the Italian law marriage by priest
is not lawful unless supplemented by
civil marriage. The King and the Countess
are man and wife in the eyes of the good
Catholics, but their marriage is not
! lawful, since ii is merely religious aud
not civil marriage. The King is very
anxious to make this woman, who,
coarse and vulgar as she is, has been
faithful to him, his legitimate wife, and
consequently the Queen of Italy, The
Italian people, however, do not like the
idea, and the royal princes are bitterly
opposed TO 1t. The King may yet carry
out his intentions, and In that case Prince
Humbert may find a dangerous rival to
his claim TO the crown in the person of
Roslna's eldest son, who is an officer in
the army and a mach better fellow than
Humbert himself.
In spite of the threats OF Humbert,
who has announced-so 1t is said-his
intention to head rebellion In case his
father marries, no violent opposition
would be made by the people. Victor
Emmanuel is still the most popular
monarch in Europe. Under him Italy
has been made free, united and pros
porous nation, and no man. except the
political partisans of the Pope, thinks
that the King has wronged him. lie
might marry dozen Rosinas at the same
time, and not even the stern Waldensian
Protestants, whom he has protected ever
since he came to the throne, would think
that he had sacrificed his claim to their
loyalty and gratitude.