Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-06-25
THE SPANISH QUEEN.
A Theory or Two Concerning Her Leave
Taking of the Royal Palace.

Several Madrid papers have been very
properly punished for expressing in a
veIled but unmistakable way opinions as
to the motives of the Queens recent de-
parture from Spain which are offensive to
the King. The fact that the Queen sud-
denly gathered up her children and her
portable property and went back to her
mother in Bavaria gave rise to the report
that she was jealous of the King, and
that conduct on his part not wholly UNI
connected with his guitar and the win
dow of pretty actress had led to a do
nestle quarrel. OF course, it was intol-
cradle that the press should publish these
alleged facts, or even hint at them, and
the Madrid editors have only themselves
to blame if they are in difficulties.
The real truth of the matter is that
there is not the slightest evidence that
the Spanish King has ever serenaded any
actress, or that the Queen is i'm the slight
est degree jealous of him. If it be true
that the royal pair has quarreled, there
are numerous explanations which can be
made without assuming that jealousy has
anything to do with the matter. There is
Alfonso's acquaintance with the Portu-
guese King. Had he confined himself.
like other Spanish mOnarchs, to sending
an annual Christmas or Easter card to
the King of Portugal, no one could have
found any fault with him; but, contrary
to all precedent, the two Kings have be-
come extremely intimate. First, the
King of Portugal came to see Alfonso.
Then Alfonso returned the visit, and now
the Portuguese King has been spend
ing several days with Alfonso. The two
Kings are young and full of spirits, and
naturally they have annoyed a quiet and
careful housekeeper like the Spanish
Queen. They have smoked all over the
palace; they have sat up late at night
playing "mugginS," the "mansiOn of hap
piness," and other exciting games, and
they have gone to the circus to a perfectly
unlimited extent. There is good reason
to suppose that the indignant Queen may
have taken the ground that Alfonso must
choose between her and that miserable
little Portuguese, and that if the latter is
TO come to Madrid she will go out of the
palace the day he enters it.
The more probable cause of rupture is.
however, the difference of opinion as to
music which must exist between Ger
man Princess and Spanish King. The
Queen has been married for several years,
and during that time she must have heard
Alfonso sing about the ''Gentle Gaudal-
quiver," and accompany himself on the
guitar at least twice every day, not to
speak of the torture which the constant
twanging of guitars by the Cabinet Minis
tiers and leading statesmen of the country
must have cost her. OF course, no
Spaniard can have the slightest apprecia-
ton of Wagner's music, nor of any music
that cannot he sung with guitar accom-
papiment, The probability is that the
Queen has been wrought up to the point
of saying that if Alfonso persists in play
ing the guitar she would so home to
mother, and as the King could not comply
with her request, since a guitar is an es-
sential to a Spanish monarch as is a scep-
ter, she has Kept her word and departed
for Bavaria. 1t is a very sad state of
things, but the Queen must have known
all about the Spanish guitar before she
was married, and it is now rather late for
her to regard it as grievance,