Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-11-01
A ROMANCE OF ROYALTY.
An Emperor Who Preferred the Mad
Cap Sister to his Stately Fiancee.

From the Cornhin Magazine.
Caroline, the eldest and perhaps the most
beautiful Of the daughters Of the Duke Maxi
milan in Bavaria, was, while still O child, se-
lected as q fitting bride for the heir to the Aus
trian crown, and although there was no formal
betrothal, her father was informed that she
must be educated in such a way as would at
her for her future grandeur. This was more
easily said than done, for money was scarce in
the ducal palace; but the whole family, from
the duke himself to his youngest child, seem
to have thrown themselves con amore into the
work and to have cheerfully economical for
the sake of the fortunate Caroline. She had
professors and teachers Of the best, and she
well repaid all the care that was lavished upon
her. for at nineteen, clever, accomplished, and
regally beautiful she was the very ideal Of
what queen should be.
When the time for the marriage drew near
the young Emperor Joseph came ON visit to
the duke in Bavaria (the family title is ''in, !"
not "of') }, that he might make the acquaint-
ance of his future wife. He gazed at the stately
young creature who had been SO carefully
trained for him with respectful admiration, but
he fell violently in love with her madcap younger
sister, Elizabeth, who, regarded in the family
destiny was in store, had been allowed to pass
her days on horseback securing the country
side. Ministers and courtiers stood aghast, but
argument and persuasion were alike wasted on
the Emperor, who refused to see that q lack Of
accomplishments was a blemish in the one
whom he loved, and few months later Eliza
beth, though child that she was, knowing no
more of the etiquette of courts than the veriest
little gamin, entered Vienna in state as Empress
OF Austria and Queen of Hungary.
Although this happened more than thirty
years ago, she had not yet learned to submit
with patience to the restraints that hedge in
the lives Of sovereigns, and the viennese, in
spite of their love for their beautiful empress,
openly mourn that the Emperor should have
chosen one who regards a court ball as
penance and state ceremony as q thing scarce
ly to be lived through. From the day Of her
marriage it seems to have been her constant
endeavor to shake off the letters of her station,
and perhaps the happiest hours of her life are
those in which, while following the hounds in
England or hunting the chamois in her native
land, she is able to forget that she is empress
queen. For her age, the Empress Elizabeth is
the youngest looking woman in Europe. When
one sees her slight graceful form. eyes brilliant
with life and vigor, and complexion that Pushes
and pales with every passing emotion, it seems
absurd that she should be the grandmother of
big boys and girls.
Caroline, the forsaken one, seems to have
met her fate with true royal equanimity. Per-
haps she thought that as her sister gained what
she lost, it did not really matter. II one may
judge by her face, her life has not been happy
one. When she was about twenty-four she was
married to the prince Of Thurm and Taxis, who
died some nine years later.