St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1897-03-20
CROWNED HEADS.
Their Ages ana Their Heirs-The LII.

| Their Ages and Their Hefrs-The LIS
tie Book That Tells the Story.
| There is a fat little red book that
comes into every considerable reference
library at about this time every year
with bursting load Of information
regarding the nations of the earth and
their rulers. This book is the al
manach de Gotha." It contains any
amount Of information that may be
found in equally available form else
| where; it contains also several hundred
pages of facts that never are collected
elsewhere in such trustworthy and con-
yenient form-facts relating to the
crowned heads of all monarchies, great
| and small, their families, their ancestors
and children and children's children,
| and their collateral relati far and
near.
Every year the editors of the "Al
manach de Gotha" send to the castles
| and palaces of royalty, wherever access
sible. the proof sheets of the pages con-
cerning the ruling families, and none of
these pages is published without hav-
ing been corrected by some princely
hand. Consequently, q man may usual
ly rely on what he finds in the "Al-
manach" about the crowned heads and
their kind, although not always, for
crowned heads err occasionally, as do
uncrowned heads, in matters of family
history. On the whole, however, the
"Almanach" is about as trustworthy as
any book Of 1880 pages could be.
The last "Almanach," received few
days ago from Europe, shows that the
Oldest reigning prince next to the pope,
who is Sc, is the grand duke Of little
Luxemburg, who is so. Denmark S king
is rs; the grand duke of Saxe-Weimar,
IS; Queen Victoria and the grand duke
of Mecklenberg-St -Strelitz, II. Three
ruling princes have passed 70 in the last
year-the duke of xe-Meiningen, the
duke of Saxe-Altenburg and the grand
duke of Baden. Nine sovereigns are be-
tween so and 70, seven of them being
over e5. Eight sovereigns are in their
SOS, six in their 40s, three in their 30s
and three in their 20s. AS for several
years Wilhelmina of the Netherlands
and Alfonso of Spain are the youngest
sovereigns. According to the length of
reign, Queen Victoria heads the list with
almost 60 years. She is followed by
Emperor Franz Josef of Austria with
aS years. The grand duke OF SAKE
Weimar, the duke of Saxe-Altenburg
and the grand duke of oldenburg have
reigned since 1858. Seventeen of the 40
European sovereigns have reigned
more than 25 years, and 13 less than ten
years. In 1894 there was but one
change in throne; in 1895, one; in
1896. none. OF 3s reigning houses in
Europe, but % have heirs in the direct
line of succession. OF the heirs to the
thrones, the prince of Wales, with So
years, is the eldest; then comes the
crown prince Of Denmark, SO years old;
the hereditary grand duke of Meek
lenburg-Strelitz, 4s; the hereditary
prince of Meiningen. 45; the hereditary
grand duke of Luxembourg and Olden-
burg, A. Of the whole number of
heirs only 12 are married; six of these
have grandchildren.
A curious addition has BEEN made to
the diplomatic and statistical part of
the little red book. 1t relates to ma
tional holidays Of the countries of the
globe. In only few German states are
there any holidays at the anniversary
of the emperor's birth. In honor of the
the shah. however, the Persians cele-
brate II holidays, and in one princi
pality of India the birthday festivities
last two weeks.-St. Louis Globe-Dem.
nnraf