Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-02-19
CHARLES Nj. OF FRANCE.


The alleged Son OF SYoHng CaPeess
The son of the alleged duke of Nor
mandy who claimed to be the child of
Louise Seize and Marie Antoinette
that was supposed to have died In the
prison of the temple, writes a Paris
correspondent to The New York Tri-.
bune, has profited by the death of the
old year and the birth of the new
to revive his pretensions to the
throne. In lieu of New Years
visiting card he has addressed a proc
lamatlon to the French nation which
he signs Charles.
"Charles XII" is an elderly gentle
man of heavy Bourbon physiog-
nomy. He is of an indolent dlspo-
sition and fatalist. Whether he is
TO reign or to remain in obscurlty will.
he considers, depend entirely on
Gods will. If God has ordained that
he is to be accepted by the nation as
king, he can not fail to occupy the
vacant throne. In Holland. where he
has resided since 1916, he is greatly
esteemed, as are the other members of
his family. Their father, the alleged
duke of Normandy, died there sudden
ly, leaving his children without any
fortune. He had practiced in youth
the trade of watch maker in Spandau,
German town, and his adventures
IN trying to ascertain his claim to the
Freach throne had been startliagly
romantic. Louis Philippe was king
when the watch maker came to
France. Ills law officers trumped up
q charge of swindllng against the
500 dlsant heir to the legitimate mon
archy. But instead of bringing it to
an issue IN a court of justice where
the accused would have told his story,
they advised his quiet expulsion FROM
French territory. Jules Favre, then
a young barrister, undertook to defend
him, and I know believed in him. He
was council for the watch makers
children in their suit against the
Comte de Chambord in 1878, and
pleaded their cause with an eloquence
bred of conviction.
[ know the eldest sister of s'Charles
XII She is to me the greatest enig-
ma | have come across. In all my
life L never saw a lady of such grace
full, amiable, and distinguished man
ners. She is entirely free from
ahectatlon, is at once courteous and
courtly, very animated In a quiet and
soft way, has grand air which coma
mandS admiration while It does not
awe. and is the image of the portraits
of Marie Antoinette and of that of the
Duchess d'Angouleme when she was
a young girl. There are also traits in
her which remind me of descriptions
L have read of Maria Theresa, who,
IT her story is true, would have been
her grandmother whose father ideuti-
tied her father as the Duke of Nor
mandy. She lives in the old manor
house of her husbands family, near
the little town of Mazerolles, and is
highly esteemed by all her neighbors.
Her husband has an income Of about
IA, 600 francs, all derived from rem
nant OF ancestral estate. She calls
herself Princess Amelie de Bourbon,
and is as active and intelligent as her
brothers are lymphatic and, SO far as
| can make out, stupid. She speaks
English, German, and French equally
we'll Though IS, her complexion is
beautifully fair, fresh, and transpar-
ent. Whenever [ see her, my feeling
is that she must be the granddaughter
of that unfortunate queen. The Comte
de Chambord was not sure that she
was not. The doubts with which he
was inspired by Jules Favre's speech
and things the Duchess d'Angouleme
said to him as to his own legitimacy
were among the reasons why he would
never move finger to obtain the
crown of France. | have been told
this by member of the little court at
F'rohsdorf.