Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1889-08-01
KINGS AND PRINCES.
The Numerical Strength OF Eu-
rcae's Royal Houses.

houses of Europe have been much dis
cussed of late. All those are recognize
ed as being of royal blood, members
of whose families now occupy or at one
time have occupied thrones. Accord
ing to official reports, published in
Harper's Weekly, there are now
q such royal families in Europe, with
459 male members, SO that each
dynasty averages II Princes, a number
reached, however, only by 10 of them.
OF these % families no less than Is
are German, namely, the Hohenzoll-
ern, Wittelsbach, Victim, Wurtemberg,
Zahringen, Hessen, MeclIlenburg,
Holstein, Anhalt, Schwarzburg, Reuss,
Schaunburg, Lippe, WaldcclS, Haps-
burg-Lorraine, Welt, Nassau and
Liechtenstein; six are Romantic or
Latin, namely. Bourbon, Savoyen,
Braganza, Monaco, Bonaparte, Berna-
dotte; two are Slav, namely,
Obrenowitch and Njenosh; and one
is Turkish, namely, Osman. OF the
German no less than five, and OF these
/
Welt and Hapsburg originated in the
little Swabian Wurtemberg. The pre-
ponderance OF the German dynasties
is all the greater, because of the Al
actually existing thrones, they occupy
! 33. OF these ~ are in the German
Empire, IL are in other countries
namely, Austro-Hnngary, Russia, Eng
land. Denim rk, Holland, Belgium,
Portugal. Roumania, Bulgaria, Greece
and Liechtenstein. The Romantic dy-
nasties occupy only five thrones, name
~. those Of Italy. Spain, Brazil, Mo-
naco and Sweden-Norway. The Slav
dynasties are found only in Servia and
Montenegro. Nothing is clearer from
these data than that the nationality of
the reighing families has had but little
influence in determining the political
ideas and aims OF the people they
govern. Notwithstanding the thorough
German character o: tic Russian
reigning house, the politics Of the
country is as decided in its anti-Ger-
man character as though its rulers
were Slavs.
The religion of eleven OF these dyn-
asties is entirely Protestant, OF five
others the greater number Of the men,
bers are Protestants. To these last
belong such houses as the Hohenzoll-
err CT Prussia. OF which the older and
Catholic side lines are not entitled TO
the royal succession in any case; also
the house OF Victim, of which the Cath
Ollie King Of Protestant Saxony is the
leading representative; the Holstein
house OF Denmark, of which the men,
bers in Greece and Russia belong TO
the Orthodox Eastern church, and the
Wurtemberg and Lippe houses. The
Romantic dynasties are all Catholic,
except that OF Bernadotte, in Protest
ant Sweden-Norway. These excep-
tions to the predominating religion of
a dynasty have in nearly all cases re-
suited from the acceptance OF a throne
in country with a different nation
al religion. Where suce change is
not made it is the result of special
stipulation, as is the cash with Prin-
cess Sophia, OF Prussia, who in be-
coming engaged to the Crown Prince
of Greece, insisted upon her adher-
ence 10 the Protestant faith. Three
German dynasties are entirely Catho-
lie, namely, the Hapsburg- Lorraine,
the Wittelsbach-to which the rulers
of Bavaria belong and Liechten stein.
Numerically the strongest is the
Danish house OF Holstein, with its So
living Princes, next TO which comes
the Saxon house of Victim, with 81
Princes. Members of the former fami-
ly rule in Russia. Greece, Denmark
and Oldenburg; OF the latter in five
German states and in Belgium, Portu-
gal and Bulgaria, and will, when the
| Welt family becomes extinct at the
death OF Queen Victoria, wear the
crown OF Great Britain and Ireland.
The house OF Hohenzollern, which lost
in 1888 not only the two emperors
Wilhelm !. and Frederick Ill, but also
the last member of it's Oldest line, the
Hohenzollern-He chingen, still have
twenty Princes in its ranks, of whom
eight are less than fifteen years old.
Another side branch will become ex-
tinct when childless Charles of Rou-
mania dies. who will be succeeded by
his nephew, Prince Ferdinand.
OF the once powerful house of
Bourbon, only one repre- sentative now
occupies throne, and he is an in
FAINT, namely, the King of Spain.
There are still 40 Princes of this dy-
nasty, OF whom only one seems to
have a chance to occupy throne,
namely that OF Brazil, where the hus-
band OF the Crown Princess Isabella
may succeed her father The Haps-
burg house has really been extinct
since 1740, and the present members
belong really to the Lorraine line.
The death OF Rudolph causes no en-
barrassment in the succession, the
supply still exceeding the demand, as
there are yet "a Princes of the dynas-
ty alive. The most productive soil
for Princes is the diIninutive Liechten-
stein, which has only 5000 inhab-
itants but boasts OF Is Princes OF roy
al blood, or one for every 500 souls.
The two influential houses of Savoyen
in italy and Bernadotte in Sweden
Norway are not correspondingly pro-
life, the former having but eight
princes and the latter seven. The old
house of Welt which lost the throne OF
Hanover in 1864, and will lose that Of
England at the death of Victoria,
which it has occupied since IVA, has