Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1896-03-12

of Paris died. But the royalist clique
is as strong today as ever. It has
never given up hope, and the present
is regarded as the most suspicious for
the cause of the Bourbons since 1871,
when the empire Of Napoleon III. went
down with a crash.
Since his fathers death the young
duke has lived in London, where he
maintains house almost on kingly
scale. He keeps up an absurd show Of
court life and is surrounded by a
number of impoverished French aris-
tccrats who bow and scrape to him as
if he were really their king
In this he differs from his father,
who was never hysterical in his pre-
tensions to the throne. Whatever his
faults may have been, the count Of
Paris never offended good taste, but
accepted all troubles and misfortunes
with gentlemanly philosophy. More
over, he was a democrat. If any Wis
itor approached him with hat off and
with a show of servility, the count
would say: "Please put on your hat"
Then he would talk with him in
pleasant, easy way, with never a show
of kingly pretensiOns. But while this
very democracy showed his good hard
sense to the rest of the world, it was
displeasing to some of the French no
bility, who accused the count of faint
neartedness and lukewarmness in his
desire to mount the throne. They can
certainly make no charge, based on
similar grounds. against the present
pretender.
Several times the duke has been re-
ported AS engaged to be married.
These have all been proven untrue
The same cannot be said of his reputa-
ton as a gallant. He has figured in
innumerahle scandals. At one time
the name of Nine. Melba, the opera
singer was associated with him in an
unkind way. Now it is said that he is
to marry the widowed duchess of
Aosta, very frolicsome lady who,
since the death of the duke, has been
a source Of anxiety to her royal rela-
tives. Her stepson, the young duke OF
Aosta, less than year ago married
Princess Helene, sister of the duke of
Orleans, so if the latter marries the
dowager duchess he will become the
husband of his sisters step mother-in-
law
But aside from mixing up family
relationships, such an alliance would
have a strong political effect The
duchess was the Princess Laetitia
Bonaparte, and, of course, is allied
to the Bonapartist pretenders to the
French throne. Prince Victor Bona
parte, the head of this branch of pre-
tenders, long ago relinquished all hope
of ever sitting on the throne, and it
looks as if tie Ratchet would now be
hurled by the long warning Bonapartes /
and Bourbons. The talked of mar
riage would certainly go a long way
toward patching up the peace.
At the present time the courtship Of .
the duke is progressing slowly, be-
cause he met with a hunting accident
a few weeks ago, and is now laid up
with a broken collar bone, a smashed
ankle and a dislocated shoulder. His
horse fell on him while riding with his
sister, the duchess Of Aosta, and her
husband, near La Mandria. The duke
is confined there, but the dowager
duchess is also stopping at La Mandria
and visits him daily.
The match is certain to be promoted
by King Humbert, who, for many rea-
sons, would be glad to be rid of the
moral and financial responsibility of