The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1877-03-17
Royal Gossip.

J6CJS dChuoNlCuSO do IhSlI lCSO lOlu'
OF these Princes ten are nominally Ro
man Catholics, namely: The Emperors
of Austria and Brazil, the Kings of
Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Bavaria,
Saxony, the Princess of Lichtenstein and
Monaco. At least three of these mon
archs, however, are very far from being
on friendly terms with the Pope, the
King of Italy actually lying under SEN
tence of accommodation, while the
King of Saxony, himself Catholic,
rules over a population almost exclu-
sively Protestant. Of the remaining
twenty.six Princes, two belong to the
Greek Church, though the Gar and the
King of the Hellenes belong to different
branches of it, The other twenty-four
are Protestants, sixteen being called
Lutherans," four Gncluding the Ger
man EMPEROR belonging to the Evan
gelicap Confession, three to the Gre
formed" Church, and one being the "su-
preme head ON earth" of the Church of
England. But the vast majority of
Queen Victoria's subjects Q39, 000, 000)
are neither Professionals nor Catholics, but
Hindoos, while the Mohammedans, 40
600, 900 in number, are themselves more
numerous than the Protestants of all de-
nominations of the empire.
The oldest of reigning sovereigns is
William, German Emperor and King of
Prussia, who completes his eightieth
year on the 22d of March, in the present
year; the youngest is Alphonso XII, of
Spain, who was nineteen last birthday
(2Sth of November, 1876. In this list
we do not count the Pope, because His
Holiness can scarcely be considered any
longer as a sovereign, and in any case
does not belong to the royal caste or
cousinhood of reigning families which is
so distinguishing feature of modern
history. The average age of the sover-
eigns now reigning is fortY-seven and a
half years. 1t may be added that five
out of the thirty siX-to-wit: the Kings
of Spain and Bavaria, the Duke of Bruins
wick and the Princes of Schwarzburg-
Rudolstadt and Lichtenstein-are bach
elors, though all happily provided with
heirs presumptive. There is only a
doubt in one case as to whether the heir,
being a sovereign who has lost his own
dominions, will be permitted to succeed
to those of his cousin. At all events
the Brunswickers need not fear lest they
should be left without a governor, it be-
ing generally understood that they are
the object of much solicitude at Berlin.
Of the thirty one other sovereigns,
twenty-eight have been once married,
two have taken unto themselves second
consorts and one has been fortunate
enough to draw three prizes in the great
lottery. The morganatic marriages of
certain Princes need not to be taken into
account. The thirty -one sovereigns have
between them ninety five children living,
to say nothing of grandchildren, which
gives an average of over three to each.
The titles borne by these lllustrious per
sonages are many and various. Five
have III modern times assumed the i'm
perial style, the oldest of existing i'm
perial titles being that of the Gar,
whose predecessor, Peter the Great,
dubbed himself Emperor in 1922, and
was soon after generally acknowledged
as such. The Rmperors of Austria, as
SUCH date from 1906; the title of EN-
peror of Brazil from 1929. The King of
Prussia has been styled German EN-
peror" since 1871; and the Queen of En-
gland has been proclaimed Empress of
India. The title of Dom Pedro H., by
the way, which is that of Constitution
al Emperor and Perpetual Protector of
Brazil" is worth noting as one of the
rare instances in modern times in which
the language of heraldry has made an
effort to be in accordance with fact. So
the two Napoleons styled themselves
Emperors by the will of the people"
as well as by the grace of God, and the
First Napoleon even took at one time
the curious designation of " Emperor by
the Constitution of the Republic" The
old Kings of France had several cen
turtles before designated themselves
Kings by the grace of God and the
will of the MOBILES"
The sovereigns not being Emperors
are eleven in number, seven dating their
titles from the present century. 1t is
difficult to say which of the kingly titles
in existence is the oldest. Those of
Denmark and Norway seem to run each
other closely. On the other hand our
own sovereigns, though in diplomatic
documents they bear title which only
dates from 1901, are called by the peo-
pie they govern and by the rest of the
world Kings or Queens of England, a
title dating from 1923, when it was first
assumed by Egbert. Down to the reign
of Henry H., however, the sovereign
seems to have been more commonly
called King of the English. Harold IL.
was King of the English and Lord of
the Island of Britain" Four of the
sovereigns above mentioned bear titles
originally bestowed by the Pope, the
Emperor Francis Joseph being "Apos-
tolic" King of Hungary, whatever that
may mean, Alfonso XII. the Catholic"
King, and the King of Portugal 1.-the
Most Faithful" King. The Queens title
of defender of the Faith" was con-
ferred on Henry VIII. for an Indifferent
theological treatise against lone Mar
tinus Eleutherus, who was officially pro-
claimed by the Privy Council to have
creed sore" Those Princes who are
not Emperors or Kings are Princes"
Dukes" or "Grand Dukes" A ma
jority of them will probably have ceased
to exist as sovereigns before very long
Indeed, the claim of some of the German
Princes to be regarded as independent