The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-12-27
TWO EX-SOVEREIGNS OF SPAIN.
Queen Isabella and King Amadeo, the Ideal
Gentleman of Royalty.

Queen Isabella and King Amadeo, the Ideal
Gentleman of Royalty.
Lucy Hooper's Letter.
The Princess Mercedes is a fine. healthy little
girl, whose education and surroundings have
been carefully superintendent by her mother, I'M
der whose judicious training she is likely to be-
come more worthy of the crown of Spain than
ever were her father and her grandmother. But
will she ever be called upon to wear it? And if
she ever does come to the throne, will any
amount of virtue and talents enable her to win
the hearts of her subjects! For there exist to-
day two ex sovereigns of Spain, the disreputable
old dowager Isabella and Prince Amadeo of
Italy. OF the former there is but little need to
speak. She has been a feminine Louis
XIV. with any number of masculine
De Montespans always at her beck and call.
Yet to this day she is very popular in the land
that experienced her misrule. ''She is so Span
ish" they say. That is. she was born in Spain,
wears a mantilla, drives white mules instead of
horses, spells her name with a Y, and adores
bullfghting and toreadors. King Amadeo was
an intellectual and spirited gentleman, refined
in his tastes, and simple and unostentatious in
his habits. This latter popularity was the great
urge against him. He and his wife
did not sufficiently maintain, they
alleged, the state and s~plendor of Spanish
royalty. They weret 90 fond OF looking into the
affairs of the common people, and in trying to
ameliorate their condition. They interested
NbhNS w AA oNANA y - Ah1kOtA4 -
limiting their duties to a constant attendance at
mass. They were snubbed and scoffed at, and
insulted by the Spanish aristoracy. The
Queen died, heartbroken, it is said, by the in.
gratitude and aggressive insolence of the
great mobiles of Spain and their families. Her
husband flung the crown from his head and
the royal mantle from his shoulders, and now
lives at Turin q prosperous gentleman. Last
spring l saw him in that city, traversing one
of the principal streets on foot with his young
con Princa Emmanuel baSl0a him No attap6-
ant followed the father and son, and the only
bowed and low-bent head of every person that
they passed. And Prince Amadeo returned every
salutation, even of the humblest promenader,
with a punctilious courtesy that was more than
princely-it was regal. A grave, intellectual
looking man is this ex'King of Spain, exceeding
ly simple and exquisitely refined in man
ners and lin bearing, the princeliest
prince, in short, that have ever
looked upon in Europe. The Prince of Wales
is a jolly, good-humored- looking bon
vivant. The Prince Imperial of Germany is ev-
cry inch a soldier. The Duke of Edinburg has
very much the aspect of q third rate shop-keeper.
King Humbert, of Italy, has the aspect of a
serious country gentleman. But Prince Amadeo
in look and bearing is the typical prince, the
perfect gentleman" without ostentation or pre-
tense-exactly what one would imagine the de-
scendant Of a hundred kings to be, and what
those descendants very seldom are. In his pleas
ant Italian palace / can imagine him coming to-
day the news from Spain, and thanking his stars
that he is we'll out of that political hornets nest,
alive with noisy ~buzzings and with cruel stings.