The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1897-01-22
CROWNED HEADS.
The Fat Little Red Book That Tells All
ID About Them.

Inc rdb AtDbte heu DOOk 1nhb AelIb All
h. About Them.
There is fat little red book that
comes into every considerable reference
library at about this time every year
with bursting load of information re-
garding the nations of the earth and
their rulers This book is the alma
mach de Gotha" in the diplomatic Ian
guage of the world and Der Gothaische
Genealogische Hofkalender" in the Ian
guage of its native land. 1t contains any
amount of information that may be
found in equally available form else
where. 1t contains also several hundred
pages of facts that never are collected
elsewhere i'll 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 relatives far and
near.
Every year the editors of the cal
manach de Gotha" send to the castles
and palaces of royalty, wherever Access
sible, the proof sheets of the pages con-
corning the ruling families, and none of
these pages is published without having
been corrected ny some princely hand.
Consequently man may usually rely
ON what he finds i'll the "Almanach"
about theSrowned 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 SO, is the grand duke of little
Luxembourg, who is 80. Denmark s king
is rs; the grand duke Of Sake Weimar,
rs; Queen Victoria and the grand duke
of Mecklenburg- Strel$z n. Three rul-
ing princes have passed 20 in the last
year-the Duke of Sake Meiningen, the
Duke of Sake Altenburg and the grand
duke of Baden. Nine sovereigns are be-
tween 60 and 20, seven of them being
over 65. Eight sovereigns are in their
fifties, six in their forties, three in their
thirties and three in their twenties.
AS for several years, Wilhelmina of
the Netherlands and Alfonso of Spain
are the youngest sovereigns. According
to length Of reign, Queen Victoria heads
the list with almost go years. She is
followed by Emperor Francis Joseph of
Austria, with AZ years, and the Grand
Duke of Baden, also with 4S years The
Grand Duke of Saxe-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 95 years and 10
less than 10 years. In 1894 there was
but one change in throne; i'll 1895,
one; in 1896, none. Of 38 reigning
houses in Europe, but 23 have heirs in
the direct line of succession. OF the
heirs to thrones, the Prince Of Wales
with his 80 years, is the eldest Then
come the crown prince of Denmark, 90
years old; the hereditary grand duke
of Mecklenburg- Strelitz, 4S; the hered-
itary prince of Meiningen, 40; the hered
itary grand dukes of Luxembourg and
A. OF the whole number of
heirs, only IL 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 the ma
tional holidays Of the countries of the :
globe. In only few German states is
there any holiday at the anniversary of
the emperor's birth. In honor of the
shah's birthday, however, the Persians
celebrate IL holidays, and in one prin-
cipality of India the birthday festivities
asst two weeks.-New York Sun.