Arizona republican., 1899-11-27
FOREIGN MOTHS
 AND COMMENT

daughter of Archduke and Archduch-
 ess Frederick that Countess Sophie Chotek made the acquaintance Of
 Archduke Francis Ferdinand. who is reported in the European press as re-
 solved to marry her morganaticaily. True. she belongs 10 q very ancient
 family of the Austrian nobility. and her father was for several years Aus
 trian envoy at Dresden, where. indeed, | Countess Sophie, who is now thirty one years Of age. was bern. Archduke ] Francis Ferdinand became so infatuac- 1 ed by the Vaccinations of the governess of his young cousin, and his attentions 10 her. as well as her own manifes, qualification thereat, became So pro nounced that Archduchess Frederick felt herself obliged to dismiss the coun- tess in a rather summary manner. She is absolutely without fortune, and it is difficult to understand how she has lived since her dismissal by the Arch duchess Frederick. now nearly two years ago.
 The action of Archduchess Frederick excited all the more comment as her own position in the imperial family is somewhat invidious, so much so. in deed, that it is taken for granted that she would never have ventured to so gravely affront the heir to the throne had the reason not been a very serious one indeed. The fact of the matter is that Archduchess Frederick is the only lady of the imperial family who is not Of blood royal. She is by birth a lady of the ducal house of Croy, which fig in, ,r the Almanach de Gotha. among the mediatized or formerly sovereign houses of Europe. At the time of the marriage all sorts of obstacles were placed in the way of the match, and at first the emperor and the imperial family would not hear of her being conceded the title of archduchess or the prefix of imperial highness" But her father, the present duke of Croy, who is a member of the house of lords of Austria, absolutely refused to per init his daughter to marry the deeply infatuated Archduke Frederick unless she was accorded full rights and pre- negatives as an archduchess and as an imperial highness. This was ulti- mately conceded by the emperor and by the imperial family, but with such intense reluctance that her position at the court of Vienna was at first an eX- ceedingIy painful one. The ladies of the Austrian aristocracy. who insisted upon regarding her in the light Of mere Belgian noblewoman. no better than themselVes-if, indeed, so good made difficulties about conce5ing to her the tokens of homage due to an archduchess and to an imperial high ness, while even Crown Princess Steph- anie and Princess Philip of Coburg. both of them Belgians by origin, ike herself being the daughters of King Leopold. showed her an exceedingly cold shoulder.
 It was only after the death of old Archduke Albert, when her husband, as the latter's principal hsir, became % colossally rich, that her position be- came more agreeable, and that she commenced to show herself both at court and in society. But even nov her rank is not assured. her position and her prerOgatives being often ques- tiOned, and, this being the case, her extraordinary action in affrOnting not only the future emperor of Austria, but also one Of the most influential houses of the Austrian aristocracy, namely, that of Chotek. naturally gave rise to all sorts of unpleasant interpretations
 It may be doubted whether the arch duke will ever marry the countess. At any rate if he does the matter is likely to be kept quite secret. and it will not be even acknowledged in the same sense that morganatic alliances are recognized. It must be borne in mind that quite a number of royal and inn periaI personages have contracted marriages which have never been ac- llnowledged or even mentioned in the Almanach de Gotka, but which, never- theless, existed.
 Thus. there is the case of the Prin- cess Mathilde Bonaparte, the only member of that once imperial house who still makes her home on the banks of the Seine and is popular there. Tine princess married-not merely ecciesias- tically. but also at the mayoralty of the district of Paris in which she re- sided-a painter on enamels of the name of NJ Popelin. He continued af- ter the marriage to live in his own house. not in hers. When she had company to dinner he sat at one end of the table. He acted as the Oblging friend of the house to her visitors. but never presumed to pose in the char
  When he died. she did not go into mourning nor did any one condole with her. Every one knew that he was her husband. but seemed to ignore the fact.
 Yet the first husband of the princess was an untitled Russian, Anatole Demidoff, for his title of prince was of Florentine purchase and not recognized al St. Petersburg. Between the time when she married Demidon and the time when she married the painter she had. however, been invested by her cousin. Napoleon III. with the rank of a princess of the blood and the predi cate of an imperial highness. I may add that she still draws today an an nuity of $40,O0O from the Demidoff es- tates. which Emperor Nicholas I forced her ignoble and savage husband to grant to her for life after she had left him.
 Queen Caroline Bonaparte, after the death of AIurat. made her home t