The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-02-26
STEPHANIE TO WED.
Kings Daughter to Marry Count
LeOnyay on Saturday.


LeOnyay ON Saturday.
VIENNA, Feb 25.-There is to be a royal
marriage at beautiful Miramare, on the
Adnia, next Saturday. There will be much
pomp and great circumstance Stephanie,
daughter of the King of Belgium, widow of
the Crown Prince of Austria Hungary and
daughter-in-law of the Emperor Francis
Joseph. will marry Coun. Leonyay. a Hun
garian noble. And this marriage has upset
two courts of Europe. driven a king to cast
out his daughter and forced young
princess to hate her mother. 1t has cost
the middle-aged bride-to-be much sacrifice
No longer will she be first lady of the i'm
perial court at Vienna. Position, privilege
and money will she lose. Her father, King
Leopold. has cast her off. So has her
daughter. for the bridegroom is but a mere
count, and not considered worthy to wed
royalty.
Elizabeth is Stephanie's daughters name.
She is the only child. Her father was
Crown Prince Rudolph. whom she loved
devotedly, and she has refused to listen to
her mothers pleadings in behalf of the
new lover. Recently when The girl became
of age Francis Joseph ordered Princess
Stephane to tell her daughter that it was
his pleasure to marry her to a Prince of
Wurtemburg. Court gossips do not know
what took place within the girls boudoir.
All they know is that very soon the mother
came out very angry and that few mo-
ments later the waiting found
the young princess in Mysteries. She was
tossing on her couch and shrieking:
Let me die, let me die" she cried, land
go to papa
the princess was pacing up and down her
boudoir on the arm of her stewardess. who
was trying to calm her. Over and over
again she kept saying: IF / could only be
with my poor papa 1t Glanced that out
ing for drive. They told him his grand
daughter had become suddenly i'll. He
strobe inside and demanded to know what
was the matter. For an answer the hys-
terical princess threw herself into his
arms. The Emperor tenderly led the girl
to her room and ordered everybody out.
Even the physician was not admitted when
he arrived. In time Francis Joseph quilted
the princess
You need not marry any Prince of
Wurtemberg," said he, land will see your
mother"
The result was that Stephanie's own mar
riage was postponed for an indefinite pc
that she need not marry any man she did
not love. Elizabeth will not be at the we'd
ding next Saturday, when her mother re-
marries. She will be out OF the country.
The mother has promised that she will
never see her daughter again unless the
girls desires a meeting. The princess has
agreed to this and her two royal grand
fathers, King Leopold and Emperor Fran
els Joseph, have promised her that her
wishes shall be observed. And every tongue
from Trieste to Brussels is wagging over
the story, which has just now come out.
Since the tragic death of her husband,
the Crown Prince Rudolph. the sympathy
which even royalty might extend to the
wronged and unhappy Stephanie has been
persistently withheld by the members OF
various royal branches with which she is
connected by birth and marriage. In the
minds of the people, however. she has be-
come greatly endeared since her widow
hood. A daughter of King Leopold of Bel
GUM. she was popularity called the moss
rose of Belgium" when she came to Aus
tria the bride of the ill-starred Rudolph
On the last day of January, 1889, Europe
was shocked by the news that the Crown
Prince Rudolph had died a violent death
Many were the rumors accounting for this
terrible tragedy. 1t is doubtful whether the
whole truth will ever be known, and
whether the death was caused by his own
hand or by the act of another is still an
open question.
OF late years, with her widows weeds
| cast aside, Princess Stephanie has devoted
her energies. to large extent, to the pub
| lie veal and to the no small delight of her
venerable father-in-law, the Emperor, has
given ample proofs of her DISTINGUISHED in
terest and affection for his subjects of all
classes of society. She is warm patron OF
| the fine arts. and is said to be "at every
body's beck and call when there's real good
| to be done" without first taking into con-
| sideration the personal trouble ii may in
volve. The Emperor, soon after Crown
| Prince Rudolphs death. decreed that in all
ma fprG of crIrfa he Gh nl1ld oaro
| tinue to take precedence of every high lady
] in the land, the Empress alone excepted
This decision gave rise to jealousy. On
Archduke Carl Ludwigs death his ambi-
| tious wife, Marie Theresa, fell into COM
parative archducal insignificance, and the
| wife of her stepson, Archduke Otto, Maria
| Josepha. as spouse of the heir presumptive
| stepped into her shoes. But the good-na-
| tured. sweet-tempered Saxon princess bore
| Stephanie no grudge, and having been
reared in Teutonic domesticfty TO be a Ger
man housewife took keener delight in the
mana gement of her babies in the nursery
| than in the marshaling refractory archduch-
esses at the Hofburg.
Princess Stephanie has long been the
most unpopular royal parsonage in Europe
Afflicted with a Eighty, unbalanced temper
ament. she has been thorn In the side OF
royalty, and. with the exception of the EN-
peror and Empress Of Austria, no person
has ever had even SHADOW OF control over
her.
| The memory OF the tragic death of Ste
phanie's husband is ever present with his
relatives. Whether he murdered OF
whether he committed suicide has never
been positively settled. but his Staying OF
the Countess Vetsera, I'm January. 1889. has
left a blot that even royalty cannot efface
| and the scandal Is still openly discussed
| despite all attempts TO smother it,
| Since her husbands death the crown
| princess has avoided Vienna as much as
| possible. Most of her time has been spent
| at Bozen. where she Is permitted to keer
her daughter. the Archduchess Elizabeth
| by her side. The child Is dearly beloved By
| the Austrians. by whom she Is affection
| ately known throughout the country as the
kleine Frau" The princess has frequently