The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-06-11
ROMANCE or 4 QUEEN.
Heart of Hollands SOVEREIGN Set
TDon a Colonel in Her Army.


Berlin. June "a zine net Of intrigue
/ has been weaving Tor several weeks from
I Berlin 20 The Hague and over numerous
small capitals % German states Crowned
heads have been busy with the task OF
settling finally the matrimonial fate Of
I young Queen Wlihelmina OF the Neither
I lands and royal and imperial hands have
striven To tie. beyond chance Of alteration.
| the knot OF bctrothaL
II really had been a hard struggle-this
| effort Of dozen full-grown princes and
princesses TO conquer the heart Of this
16-year-0lJ Dutch girl. bind ii fast in the
steel bands of state policy and lay 1t.
thus bound, az the crowned heads or THAI
of the lone little woman OF The Hague
About the middle OF last month % was
| told about Berlin that Prince Bernard
OF SAKE " eimar was 20 be prince c0nsOrt
Of the young Dutch queen. Bernard Is u
years ola. OF stuuiOus turn OF nina,
of rather inferior physique. and altogether
far fromNbe.ng type Of manly strength,
resolution and vigOr. He is, in fact,
/ fair representative Of the ducal house
in Weimar, which ever has been more
inclined 10 arts and letters than 10 the
development of physical strength and
military proves.
Tie has seen Wnhelmina twice once in
Holland and once in Potsdam. during her
last visit at the German court. Now the
young queen has not fulfilled the promise
Of her early years that she would be weak,
spindlng and pale, but she has grown into
a womanly figure strong well-shaped,
healthy and exuberant with life She has
gained with her years liking for big men
and robust men, such as characterizes
her royal cousins, the daughters OF the
Prince of Wales. When she saw little
Bernard, and especially after he began 10
show q strong liking for her she laughed
20 him behind his back and ridiculed with
Dutch frankness the suggestion that he
might be a good husband for her. Bernard
was at that time about the most unlikely
IN long list Of possible prince cOnsOrts
that Emperor William had compiled from
the German section of the Almanac de
GOtha- He was not particularly eager,
nor was the Dutch queen regent, that
Wilhelmina should set her heart on Der
nard. There were others. many others,
Of marriageable age who might be trotted
IN review before the captiOus young Dutch
queen. Albert of Prussia, who is regent
OF Brunswick, has three able-bodied sons,
two of them lieutenants in the army and
the other a cadet They are robust and
handsome, like their sire, but unfortunate
ly have inherited with their sire's stout
calves and broad shoulders also his thick
htad ana stupid manners. Any one or
them would make splendid lay figure at
the Dutch court, especially in the resplen-
dent office Of prince consort, but evidently
Nilhelmina isn't looking for a man to
beautify her household and ornament
her court, for Prince Alberts sons al
though presented TO her repeatedly, have
found no favor in her sight.
From these four young men the young
queens eyes were directed to Coburg.
thence 70 Carlsruhe, to Munich, and even
the candidates for her hand suited her
fancy. In despair her mother turned TO
Belgium. To be sure, the Dutch always
suspect the Belgians of being merely
French agents, and are eager to avoid
even show Of anything more than for
NAL friendship with them; yet King Leo
pold' S nephew Albert, was apparently
just the match for Wihelmina He was
Just was r. tall strong. dark, and hand
some, genuine cavalier, and a proper
nephew or MS reignlng uncle. The pros
poets of betrothal We're regarded as ex-
cellent. The Dutch queen had little 10
say one way or the other. Albert was to go
to The Hague for a winter visit. He was
even bidding goOd-bY to his many women
friends and his favOrite actress in Brus-
sells, preparatory to a betrothal trip to
me Dutch capital, when something en-
tirely Unforeseen by anybody, except per-
maps he young queens two intimate COM
panlons, happened TO crush all Belgian
hopes. King Leopold had been in Paris
some time, lettering about the dressing
room of Nile. Cleo de Merode, to the great
scandal of his family and the almost to-
tai disruption of the Belgian cabinet The
story came straight to the ears of young
Wilhelmna; She set her companions to
| inquiring about the ways of Prince Albert
IN the gay world of Brussels. She after
ward informed her mother that she did
this TO learn what the family traits OF the
Belgian royalty were. Whatever her mo-
tive, she found out that young Albert was
as gay for his youth as Leopold was for
! maturity.
Her decision was fiat and final. When
young Albert reached The Hague and put
up there incognito, but with the avowed
intention of closing the matrimonial bar
gain, he learned that Wilhelm!na, despite
! the worldlywise advice of her mother,
/ had decided not to see him. This self
| confident young sutton was, in fact, never
received. The queens clinchtng remark
| In the final scene with her mother before
| the settlement of the question was re-
| ported in Berlin as follows:
lived fourteen
| ready, and my subjects shall never be
shamed by the thought that their queen
/ is only the fifteenth. / won't marry a
| hbertine and he may go home"
| This story has its lesson just now. It
! shows how far the Dutch queen will let
others go in settling her future for her,
| only to set down her own little foot at
| the end and, regardless of all appearances
| or ARRANGEMENTS. follow the dictates of her
| own heart and will. Nearly three weeks
! have passed since Bernard's betrothal
was talked of here and in The Hague as
! a fOregone conclusion, and within ten
| days it has been mentioned twice in pub
! lie prints as already accomplished, yet,
! in fact the whole arrangement still halts.
! Emperor William wants it, as assuring
/ German influence at the Dutch court; the
petty German soVereigns want 1T in a less
| degree, but for the same reason; the
| the Netherlands of German sympathy in
/ any time of need, while not binding them
too closely for safety to the German en-
pire. Nevertheless, nobody has found a
way of clinching the matrimonial bargain
as long as Wilhelmina does not like Ber-
nard. 1t is a situation without a parallel
or precedent in the recent history of
| royal matchmaking in Europe, that con-
venient. satisfactory marriage. arranged
and approved by a dozen crowned heads,
should be held off merely on the ground
that the intended bride does not love, nor
even like, the intended bridegroom.
Just what is concealed behind this sit
uation it is beyond the power of anybody tc
guess exactly. Even the queen regent is
unable to fathom the secrets of Wilhel-
, mina's heart while sitting face to face
with her daughter. To read those secrets
"a this long range is out of the question.
| Some eighteen months ago a young lieu.
tenant in the Dutch army was relieved
I suddenly of court duties and sent to Dutcf
India to fight the natives. AS was related
1 a the time, he was sent away because
| by his military dash and general prOwess
as a lady-ldller he had won the heart OF
/ his queen and was corresponding with hel
/ surreptitioUsy. In her childish tears az
that time Wilhelmina declared her hear
was no longer in the Netherlands. but il
Atjeh. Since then the lieutenant has dis
tinguished himself three times In the field
Once he saved the Dutch force from eX
tinction and won a promotion which has
brought him as far as colonel and is like
~ to land him in a generalship before The
49, an