Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1886-07-29
LUDWIG'S ROMANCE.

LUDWIG'S ROMANCE.
Why the Mad King OF Bavaria Never Married.
Paris Letter
1t has been remarked as strange that
King Ludwig. a relative and ardent adj
mirer of the Prussian monarch, should
have taken sides against him in the
wal with Austria in 1866. True Ludwig's
mother is a cousin of the Kaiser Wilhelm
But the Empress of Austria is ALSO a cou-
sin of Ludwig himself, However, there
is a stronger reason. Al the time of the
war Ludwig was
ENGAGED TO BE MARRIED
to sister of the Empress of Austria
That was what caused his alliance with
Austria against Prussia. The young
LADY was the Princess Sophia Charlotte
Augustine. She was the seventh child of
Macmillan, duke in mot in) Bavaria,
and the Duchess Louise, daughter of
Macmillan l., King of Bavaria. The
Princess Sophia was the seventh child,
have said. The third child of this fam
ily WIS the Princess Elizabeth, who is
now Empress of Austria. The fourth
child was Prince Charles Theodore, duke
mot of Bavaria, who, with his wife, an
infanta of Portugal, as his active assist
ant, has given himsdlf up to the pre-
fession of surgery, and one of the abest
practitioners III Europe. Well as | have
said. Ludwig was engaged to marry the
Princess Sophia. He undertook TO court
her in romantic fashion. He became the
prototype of Fanki-Pooh in the "Mika-
de-" In truth he did. He joined
~ .,se -,
il am alto horn. Thus disguised, he went
with his fellows to play i'll the grounds of
the places whore she lived. But alas for
romance. His first sight of his betroth-
ed revealed her in secluded arbor seated
on the knee of one of the stable grooms
who attended her in her horseback rides,
His arms were about her waist and hers
about his neck, and her lips rested upon
his forehead. leslousy, shame and rage
took possession of the young king. With
out revealing his identity, however, he
FASTENED back to Munich aud broke off
/ the engagement at once. This occurred
when he was % years old and had been
ON the throne only three years, The
/ event made him for the rest OF his life
A CONFIRMED DIsrIsER
4 but not hater of women. He never
again the aght of marrying. Nor would
/ he it possible associate with women in
society. He disposed them all, and had
no faith in them. He was seldom with
ont two or three mistresses, however, but
he kept them shut up in his most inacces-
sible palaces. lie would not trust them
elsewhere, His contempt for woman
hood included even his own mother who
Il 81, a. OIL
did il spare the empress of Austria who
did her best to lure him from his retire
mcnt. The Empress daughter Gisela
is married TO Ludwig'o cousin Leopold
second son tf the regent, Prince i.uit
puld The Princess perhaps more near
IL succeeded than anyone else in turning
Ludwigs mind back "a a juster estimate
of the sex. Indeed he went SO fax as to
invite her Ia share hi, box AT the per
formauces of Waguers operas, at which
no one but the King and she wcr,
present; and several times he took heI
out rowing ON the lake in his swan boat
, But after time he began TO doubt hel
honesty. and at last denounced her as be
ing ms faithless and vile as the rest 81
her sex The Princess Sophia, after heI
engagement was broken because of Tho
. groom married the Duo d Aiencon, son %
the Due de Nemours, and cousin of tn,
Comte de Paris. No doubt she has mad,
: him a faithful wife The affair of tht
groom was merely an incident of he
ID, "tomhoy' girlhood. She and her sis
: tiers, the present Empress of Austria in
: cluded, were brought up in n rough an,
ready way, and romped with the groom
of their fathers stables just rs peasan
!. girls would have done. But they hav
grown up 10 be estimable women, al
though they have never got rid of TIA
stable tastes. The Empress of Austria
closest women friend is circus ridel
!, and the Empress herself loves horses an
dogs next to her children.
More than three hundred out of TIA
n 1000 conyicts in the Massachusetts stat
IS prison are idle, and the warden is adyei