Morning journal and courier., 1888-10-26
DUoAL wITTELsBAoHs.

A Branch of Bavarian Royalty That Has Made Splendid Matches for Iss Daughters.
 Prince or Duke Maximilian and the King of Denmark enjoy the distinction of having fmarried of" their daughters splendidly says the London Life. Of the Dukes nu.
 merous children eight survive-three sons
 and daughters. These five princesses of the
 Bavarian Wittelsbach ducal house were ex- quisitely beautiful. Some thirty years ago
 they were the acknowledged bellies of Ger many, but now, as age comes upon them,
 they are gradually retiring from the world
 and becoming Belschwestern or 'tpraying
 sisters" Caroline, the eldest, is Princess of
 Thurn and Taxis; Elizabeth, the second, Is
 Empress of Austria; Sophie is ex-Queen of
 Naples; Mathildie is Countess de Trani,
 Princess of Naples, wife of the heir to the
 Neapolitan throne, should the Bourbons ever
 be restored; and the youngest Charlotte,
 married the Duke d'Alencon, son of the Duke
 , , Nemours. She and the ex-Queen of
 Naples make their homes in Paris, and are
 among the most interesting personnaltes
 Parisiennes.
 The ex-King and Queen of Naples prefer
 to be known as Duke and Duckess de Castro,
 and they have rooms in the fourth story of
 the Hotel Vouillemont, Rue Boissy d'Anglas.
 They visit no one snd receive only members
 of their family. The royal couple seem to
 have no tastes in common. Queen Sophie,
 or Sophie Marie, as she is often called, never
 goes to the theater; the ex-King is happiest
 when he can conceal himself in dark cor
 ner of box at the opela and quietly listen to
 the music. Francesca di Borbone seldom drives; every afternoon when the Avenue des Champs Elysees is filled with brilliant equip
 ages, the great pedestrian, strolling up and
 down, would never be taken for descendant
 of Louis XIV. The Queen, on the contrary, is as fond of horses as her sister, the Empress of Austria, and only second to her riding is her taste for fencing. Her fayorite race horse, La Malmaison, had several successes on the turf.
 It is said that when the ex-Queen lived in Rome she was constantly seen on horseback, and that her sympathy for Miss Hosmer, the American sculptress. was not so much be- cause of art as because of horses. When the Queen visited the artist their time was spent, not in the studio, but in the stables. Although these Bavarian sisters have always shown contempt for court ceremonies, when called upon to defend her kingdom no woman ever displayed more valor than Marie Sophie, ex-Queen of the Two Sicilies. She was scarcely IT when she married the heir apparent to the kingdom of Naples, or the | two Sicilies, and by the death of his father a few months after their marriage Francis II. ascended the Neapolitan throne.
 The reign was brief and full of disasters. One year after her marriage the young Queen saw her weakaminded husband fee from his kingdom. Refusing to follow his example, she took the place that should have been occupied by the cowardly King, put on uni form, and served her turn as sentinel on the ! ramparts of the fortress, trying to instill g | little courage into the hearts of the undisci- plined soldiers. Only when the cause was entirely lost did she consent to join her l husband, but so overcome was she by @ sense of her misfortune that fer time the curse of her house fell upon her. With the loss l of health her mind became unsettled, but | by careful, watehful nursing, due in a great
 measure to her brother, Prince Charles l Theodore, who wys practicing as doctor at 1 the Munich Hospital, she was restored to a normal condition of mind and body.
 The x-Queen's youngest sister, Duchess | of Alencon, has sad, disappointed life. think she has quite recovered from the men, ! tsl trouble that caused her confinement in a private asylum at Gratz, where she was cared for by her brother, the Prince Dr. Charles saw her at the Chantilly "Derby, 2 and now she is in the Pyrenees with the Princess Blanche d'Orleans, youngest daugh- I ter Of the Dude de Nemours. Perhaps it is not generally known that the great sorrow of the Ducness d'Alencon's life was her separation from her cousin, the unfortu- l nate Louis of Bavaria. They loved, were engaged-the portrait of the young Princess | was sold as that of Queen of Bavaria-when | suddenly, almost on the eve of marriage, after an angry interview without an explan- | tion, the lovers declared that they would | forever be as strangers.
 ! From that time dated Louis's insanity, and from that time the Princess took in i terest in nothing. Long after it was whis \ pered in court circles that an enemy had I made Louis believe that the Princess had become too intimate with one of his equer ries. She was stunned, too proud to re- 1 flute the horrible charges brought agains her by an enraged fance, and before Louii had finished his accusation she refused t,