Omaha daily bee., 1886-10-24
QUEEN NATHALIE OF SERVIA,
King Milan's Beautiful and Clever
0onsort.
The Court of Belgrade and its Sur
roundings-king Miian's Career
as Ruler-The Country aud
People.

Sun; Strangely enough, while the young
! ruler of Bulgaria, Alexander of Batten
berg, is not, strictly speaking of blood
royal, being only the son of the Grand
Duke of Hess by his morgauatic marriage
with the fair Countess Hauck, the con.
sort of his rival, enemy and unmcrcful
foe, King Milan |, of Scrvia, has equally
sprung from family not belonging to
| the throne
Queen Nathalie is the daughter of
colonel in the Russian army Kcchko, a
boyard OF Bessarabia, and of Princess
Puleherie Sbroudga, Roumanian. She
was remotely connected with Prince
Milan, and descends lincally from an old
French family named "Des Baulx,"
changed into Balsa by the Italian and
RDumanian pronunciation. She was
born May IL, 1859, and married the reign
ing prince of Servia in October, 1870.
1t is difficult to describe the rare and
exceeding beauty of the queen. Her
classical features have at the same time
a commanding royal majesty and the in
nocent charm of playful girl. Her
fair broad forehead is crowned by pro-
fusion of jet black hair; her almond
shaped brown eyes have look at once
| inexpressibly tender and sparkling with
intelligence; her rlpplipg smile and sill
| very laugher lrradiate n clear and pale
| complexion, recalling her own Russian
SHOWS, warmed into richer coloring by
| the eastern suns She is tall and sur
| passingly graceful and her manners
| have subtle charm, partly royal and
| wholly feminine.
Before the fatal Servian- Bulgarian war
broke out, while she was enjoying her
popularity and the glory of her late
accession to the royal crown. Queen
Nathalie had made her remote little
court the resort of western elegance, wit
and refinement, and enlivened it with
receptions over which she presided with
all her juvenile gayety and tact. At the
Konak tthcn the palace( she organized
little balls ut which, with her ladies in
waiting, maids of honor, and officers of
her guard, she danced the Russian ma
zurka with true national spirit. At times
she would appear in the picturesque cos
tune of the Servian peasants, with the
red head gear studded with scquins, the
gold-brodered vest, the full silken chem.
isette, the <lrt with its dazzling and
| multlcolored ornamentation. Thus at
tired she went through the slow, r'lyth-
mical steps of the kOlo, an old dance
of the country, the monotonous echoes of
which are often heard on the shores of
the far Danube.
Without pedantry or any of the pre-
tentions OF blue stocking, the queen is
well read and possesses solid and
varied instruction. She is not poet nor
an author, like the queen of Roumania,
but she speaks French quite rs tiuently
and takes particular pleasure in read
ing the poetry of France as well as all
the publications treating on history,
which Is her favorite study. On her
book shelves, besides the classics ana
serious volumes, can be seen the works
OF Taine, Coppia, with his musical
verse; Sully Prudhommle, rhe satrist:
L'Amand and Alphonse Daudet. The
latter is one of the very few novellsts of
the modern school who have found favor
with queens, although queens have met
with small indulgence at his hands
Diplomats have always been received
with marked distinction at the court of
Belgrade, and made much more of than
in other grander European capitals; and
as the social world of the city is eX-
tremely restricted, and offers few attrac-
tions to the foreigner, he is indebted to
the queen for almost the only receptions
where he can forget that he has virtually
reached the confines of worldly civiliza-
ton. On the arrival and departure of
every foreign representative gala ban
quet is given at the palace; during dcs,
sert the orchestra plays the national
anthem OF the guest of the hour, and
with hospitable courtesy the king
drinks his health, adding few well.
chosen words of welcome or farewell
During the last war, and after the
cruel humiliatons and deceptions 1t
brought her people, Queen Nathalie was
unremlttent in her endeavors to assist
the stricken, tend the wounded, en-
courage the suffering, and won for her
self tho title of madonna of Kossovo."
A Servan legend says that the Blessed
Virgin visited the fallen soldiers on the
battlefield of Kossovo; where, in a MUIR
derous conflict in 1889, Sultan Amurath /.
found his death. But the intidel died
victorious, and from that period dates
the serfdom of the Servians. The simple
nation, oppressed and tyranizeG over,
never forgot the defeat and subsequent
catastrophe which made it, Christian
people, the slave of the Mussulman, and
nearly 800 years ago, stayed for centuries
the progress of its civilization. In it's
picturesque folk lore, many lays and
poems record the event and the super
natural visitation of Our Lady:
Servia saw herself once more fran
chised in 1882 and in the first flush of her
freedom received cruel stroke from the
Bulgarian foe, who attempted to strike
at the roots of her newly acquired inde-
pendence. Queen Nathalie, during those
troubled times, when the fate of her
country hung in the balance, proved her
self heroine. Even to this day, when
seeming tranquility is restored, she trains
herself to the part she would play should
a fresh storm sweep across the land.
Barely day passes that she does not
perform some act of mercy, visiting the
hospitals, giving personal supervision to
some charitable institution, or seeking
the afflicted in their own miserable
haunts. When she enters the wards or
nears n patients pallet he lifts her hands
and makes the sign of the cross as before
some sainted vision. When she passes
on foot through the streets of Belgrade,
escorted only by n single lady III waiting, |
small children rush to kiss the hem of her |
garment, and the mothers kneel cravinga Il |
permission, which is never refused, to |
kiss the little hand always opened to give. |
II is only in very young nations that |
this reverence and love for the sovereign |
finds a spontaneous expression. The vic |
torous monarchs of more civilized and |
matured lands receive less homage than |
beautiful, vanqulshed Nathalie, of Servia, |
1t was she who prevailed on King Milan
not to abdicate in the first moment of |
despair at his reverses, and to keep for
his son the throne TO which the vote of /
hispeople had raised him.
This only heir. Prince Alexander, was
born in 1876. His mother superintended
his education, and even now she spends
with him all the time she can spare from
maturer studies and active exercise be-