The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-12-22
QUEEN WILHELMINA.
some Interesting Sidelights on Her
Character and Career.

/ been assured by the ministers and
leaders Of the states general that a
marriage with d German would be
most polite az tending to double the
defense against the German kaiser s
greed for a seacoast, since William
would not be likely 10 disturb a Ger
man c0nsOrt of the queen.
Gossip has always said that while
Wilhelmina was visiting the family of
Prince Henry she felt her heart deeply
stirred by the princes young brother,
and with him she wished to link her
future. But politics again OveTrUled
her flclinatiOns, the German family
declared an union with the younger
still on their hands. Queen Emma saw
the case in the same light and VIII
helmina betrOthed to Henry.
This May ali pure gossip, and
set no store UPON its truth.
When the marriage contract was be-
ing arranged Wilhelmina and Henry
were much together, at least they rode
their horses side by side daily in the
grounds Of her country palace by the
Zuyder Zee. AS both looked well on
horseback the people were enthusiastic
in their belief that the pair were well
matched. To me, as 1 saw him again
and again, the prince looked like a
WIN
stronger suggestion Of coarseness and
.sensuality than Of fine instincts in
the cut Of his face and the lines of
Gods handwriting there Without
doubt he expected to share literally
the great wealth Of his royal bride. but
at the end, when it was too late for
him to withdraw, he found that she
had instructed her ministers to see
that the states general provided for
him.
If the country had been indicate.
selfish and practical in forcing her to
marry, Wilhelmina made I'D her mind
that it could pay the whole bill If
she could not marry for love, but must
marry Tor pOlitics-she seemed to rea-
son-then let politics pay the fiddler;
she would not let tho affair cost her a
penny.
At The outset, as soon as Prince
Henry learned that he was to be q
hired employee of the state instead Of
a husband on the footing Of affection.
he made his bride feel his displeasure.
Finding that she would not share her
income with him, he asked her to pay
MS debts. AS I remember it the
states general allowed him only
Sl5,O0O a year, and for a man who gam
Dled, Kept miStreSses ard desired to
play the part of a youthful and spirited
royal consort this was not enough: il
he had to pay his debts out of It the
sum was ridiculously inadequate.
Wilheimina was firm and immovable.
and all his pleading fell upon deaf ears
and an opposing spirit. All this was
told me by fTequenters Of the court
members Of the diplomatic corps at
The Hague-before the royal marriage
was three days old, and I came away
from there full Of misgiving as to the
future happiness of the young queen.
Her training does not tend to make
her lenient toward a too self-indulgent
husband. She has never known the
iaXity and freedom of morals which
characterize the retinUe OF too many
courts. Since she was a child she has
lived in the court of a quiet widow,
who has held up to her, as life's high
est examples, the prosaic and virtuOus
behavior of those other royal widows.
the late Queen Victoria and the late
Empress Frederick. Among men the
kaiser has been her beau ideal. and Of
his early Wildness she has heard moth
ing, while his present domesticity has
been held up to her as the true goal
of every honest prices ambition. Tt
musS have been a rude shock to her to
learn from the life Of her husband, al
most in her honeymoon, the depths and
breadths of the latitude which the ma
jority Of princes and of idle men every
where allow to their behavior and their
morals.