Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1892-02-27
Ex.EMpRESs EUGENE.
Is She Half Sister of Ex-oueen lisa bella
of Spain?

The descriptions of the affection
manifested toward the ex-Empress
Eugene during her recent visit to Pa
us by Queen Isabella of Spain recall
10 me, says writer in the New York
recorder, the popular and widely cred
Tied report to the effect that something
more than mere friendship constitutes
the bond of union between these two
eX-sovereigns. In the court and diplo-
matte circles of the old world-not-
ably at Vienna, st. Petersburg and
Madrid-it is firmly believed that
Queen Isabella and Empress Eugene
are half-ssters.
Many and convincing are the pieces
OF evidence which have been advanced
IN support of the theory that both the
Empress Eugene and the late duchess
OF Alba were not the daughters of old
Nine. de Montijo, but the children of
Isabella lis mother Queen Christina,
and born prior to the latter's marriage
with King Ferdinand of Spain.
1t is well known that Queen Christi
ma, who was the sister OF the late en-
press of Brazil and of the famous
Duchess de Berri, gave birth to two
girls before her marriage. The father
or these two children was a young
painter, who, according to some re-
ports, was secretly and morganatically
married to the very frivolous Christi
ma. If marriage there was, which |
doubt, it was not taken into any ac-
count by the statesmen who negoti-
ated the union subsequently between
her aud King Ferdinand.
l may mention here that the moral
shortcomings and incredible illiteracy
OF both Queen Christina and her sister,
the duchess de Berri, were attributable
to the fact that although daughters of
the king Of Naples their education
had been shamefully neglected. 1t
had been left entirely to kind of gov
erness in the person of Mrs. Ward. an
English circus-rider, and sister, | be-
lieve, of the Count Ward who rose
from the position of groom to that of
prime minister of the last regning
duke of Parma.
1t is the daughter of this ex-noble-
man who, as the wife of the marquis
Hervey de St Denis, figures as one of
the most brilliant leaders of Partisan
society.
1t was to the old Comtesse de Mon
tito that Queen Christina is asserted to
have contided her two little girls, who
grew up as the countess daughters
under the names of Eugene and Marie
de Montijo. 1t is worthy of note, that
while not the slightest trace of family
resemblance existed between the
countess and her two more or less
authentic daughters, the latter possess
all the characteristics and strongly
marked features of the Bourbons
Indeed there is far more of the
Bourbon in Empress Eugenie's face
than in that of the comte de Paris or
any of his Orleans cousins or uuces.
Whether Eugene and her sister, the
late duchess OF Alba, were really the
daughters of the countess de Montiio
or not, one fact at any rate remains
assured. namely, that they were not
the children of Nine Montijo's hus-
band, for whereas the AinlalIach de
GOtbG gives the date of Eugenie's birth
as MAY. 1926, and that of the late
duchess of Alba as January, 1925, the
husband of the countess, Don Caprino
de Montijo, died the S0th of October,
1928.
Although the pages of the register
of the Parish of Arevalo which con-
tanned the statement of his death have
been mutilated and removed, yet the
official records of the law courts at
Madrid contain frequent mention of
the date of his death IA connection
with several lawsuits brought by his
brothers after his demise against his
widow, the countess de Moptijo.