The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-01-06
ITLHELMINA Of holland, the indie

HIHFLAII0VA of Holland, the indie
/ pendent little girl queen, is to be
w welded Jan H. After disturbing
the. peace of half the cabinets of
Europe with ominOus anticipauOns IN
regard to her intentions. to say nothing
Of turning the heads of all the royal
bachelors Of naarriageabie age, Wlihei-
nina selected a totally unthought OF
prince Of an obscure hOuse-a man with
no great prospects and no fortune The
public is officially assured that the
match is entirely a love affair, and, on
Wuhelmina's part at least, there IS no
doubt that strong affection exists, but
there is a disQuieting story to the ERECT
that her fance, daZzled by ambition,
sacrificed his love for an obscure Ger
man princess to become the consort Of
the cieverest. most dashing and most
beautiful queen in Europe. Of course,
tb ere may be not a grain of truth in
the story. for Jealousy is a quality not
unknown even to royal breasts, and
there are many disappointed courts in
Europe which are prone to look upon
the darher aspects of the approaching
marriage Of the little queen.
The storN- of WiIhelmina's courtship
ie a nra+tv one. She met her promised
husband Duke Henry of MeckleubUrg-
Schwerin. at the German court when
she was visiting there with her mother
The vou9e man was a lieutenant and
was sometimes called upon to attend
Queen WiIhelmina and her mother
O1-.en Emma when they were in need
of a military escort
On one expedition the royal carriage
met with an accident and the young
man by his promptness averted possible
injury to the ladies'. He showed his
TACT bv escorting them their accident
having left them in a somewhat dishev-
eled state. back to Potsdam by Sc
Guided way. where they were in no dan
ger of meeting any one
The acquaintance thus favOrably be
gun was kept up unknown to the Ger
man cnrer0r who had intended that
fbe rich little queen should marry his
second son. Prince Frederick. One day,
Quite BIZ chance. he discovered the state
of affairs and sent young Duke Henry
ONT OF the way until Wilhelmina and
her mother had left the German court
The circumstance that enlightened
the kaiser was a matter Of gossip in
Berlin for weeks. The very afternoon
after the incident of the carriage Duke
Heorv while in attendance upon the
kaiser and his guests scratched his
hand upon an iron fence, the blood
squirting forth freely. Wilhelmina. who,
with her mother, was then in converse
ton with the German emperor, noticed
the accident and sprang to the assist
ance of the duke. wrapping the wound
with her own lace handkerchief EN-
neror William made no secret of his
disapprobation. but attributed it to VIII
helmina's lack Of respect for her elders.
Soon after this the young lieutenant of
chasseurs was transferred elsewhere
but not before he had declared to Will
helmina his love for her The incident
is said to have occurred in Sans Souci
park
But" said the royal coquette after
Duke Henry's avowal, they say that
Prince Frederick also loves me. What
Of him?"
Too loyal to press his suit against
the son of his sovereign and patron,
Duke Henry bowed his profound de-
spair and was about TO retire, feeling
that his love was hopeless when Will
helmina. giving him her hand, said in
German;
"I desire to know thee better
The courtship was continued at the
home of the mother of Duke Henry at
6chwarzburg-R udolstadt. There the
young lovers had an excellent opportu-