Daily Kennebec journal., 1902-03-18
FOREIGN CHAT.
The: Married Life Of Edward
VII. and His Queen.
They Have Been Happy Together fer
SO Years.
A Scottish Romanee.-The Barbarin'
Collection in Rome.


King Edward and Queen Alexandra
celebrated the thirty ninth anniversary
of their wedding, last week, and when
one reads of the phenomenal activity
of body and mind displayed by the
British Sovereign, and when one gazes
upon the still wonderfully young and
comely face of his consort, so aston
ishingly free from the lines of age and
care, 1t is difficult in the extreme to
realize that they have been married for
close upon forty years, and that, while
Edward VII. is in his sixty-first year,
Alexandra is already past 5S. The an
niversary was celebrated with all the
more satisfaction by reason of the fact
that the union, in spite of all that has
been said and written to the contrary,
has been a happy one, far more so than
most royal matrimonial alliances. Had
the match turned out badly no one
would have been surprised. For King
Edward had been brought up with the
most extraordinary strictness, and had
been kept in leading strings, subjected
to the most intolerable control and
6upeTNISlOU VI tiuClly mCheCh''
denied any independence or youthful
liberty until when as 22-year-old lad
he married Princess of Denmark. Hav-
ing had no opportunity of sowing MS
wild oats prior to his marriage, no one
would have been astonished II ne had
sown them afterwards. But there is
nothing to show that he ever did this
that is to say, in the worst meaning
of the phrase. True, there have been
all sorts of stories current about his
infatuation for this and for that lady,
and urfriendly gossip, in conjunction
with the caricatures of foreign anglo
phobes, have contributed to endow him
with a reputation of profligacy which
is by no means based on fact.
Queen Alexandra, in spite of her
quiet and gentle manner, has repeated
ly shown, especially of late that she is
q woman of far more strength Of char
acter, of spirit and of cleverness than
has been generally believed. She is
also exceedingly religious and high
principled-just the very last woman
in the world, therefore, to forgive
serious misconduct on the part of her
husband, or to tolerate such behavior
as that which has been attributed t.
him. Yet not only have this roya,
couple lived together as husband al,
wife without any break or serious
quarrel for nearly forty years, but the
Queen, although very exclusive, has
made a point of inviting down to
Sandringham and Of showing in many
other equally significant wsys her good
will to the very women wi,h whom the
name OF her husband has from time to
time been associated by calumny, as il
to demonstrate to the. world at large
that King Edwards firtatiOns, and
temporary engouements fvrSthis or fol
that fair one, were regarded by his
family as of the most harmless and in
nocent character. and as a matter
for pleasantly. rather than for criti-
cisIn.
Mrs. George Keppel, for instance
who has been 50 frequently portrayed
on both sides Of the Atlantic as ths
Kings favorite, is constantly asked by
Queen Alexandra to Sandringham
Lady Warwick. another dame to whom
the King is asserted to have been de
voted, may have annoyed at one mo
ment the Queen by her Pauline Met
ternich-like absence of conventionalit!
and originality of speech and manner
but it is Lord Warwick's brother whom
the Queen chose to be her private sec
retary. and she has surrounded boil
her children and herself with mem
bers of the Warwick family, whicl
does not look as IL she saw anythin:
wrong in her husbands friendship 70
the beautiful Countess.
The Mordaunt divorce case has oftel
been cited against King Edward. Blu
1t must not be forgotten that he wa
cleared by Jury of his fellow country
men OF the charges brought agains
him by crazy woman, who for year
afterwards was in lunatic asylum
and which would never have com
manded any attention had it not bee
for that rule'of English court etiquett
which prescribes that when a roya
visit is being paid the doors should b
closed to all other callers. Moreover
Lady Mordaunts sisters, particularl
the Dowager Countess of Dude.
have remained warm friends of Quee
Alexandra ever since this divorce tria
while no one has been kinder to tn
child whose birth brought about tn
Mordaunt case. than King Edward
consort Young Violet Mordaunt wa
often asked with her aunt. Lady Dud
ley. to stay at Sandringham. and re
ceived beautiful presents from tn
King, the Queen and their daughter
when she married the present Marqui
of Bath a few years ago.
If mention these things it is
show to what extent King Edward ha
been subjected to gross calumny !
connection with his home life. For, I
put the matter quite plainly. not eve
his most malignant slanderers woul
dream of charging him with forcin
the society of questionable favorite
upon his wife and daughters in hi
home or would be willing to assei
that Queen Alexandra and her daugh
ters knowingly tolerate the presenC
under their roof of women whose rela
tions with their husband and fathe
were of a doubtful character. And We
1t is precisely the ladies who figur
most frequently on the visiting list a
Sandringham who are charged
gossip at home and in print abroa