Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-19
THE KINGS MARRIAGE
Spanish Talk About a Wife
for Alfonso.
HIS AGE rs ONLY II
HIS MOTHER ANXIOUS TO SEE
Him SETTLED IN LIFE.
He is Good Boy and Has Been Pro-
tected From Every Vicious In
fluence and Example.
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.

a wife for King Alfonso, although he Is
only seventeen years Of age. His father
was married at nineteen Alfonso is a
strong, well developed, vigorous boy, al
though there has been considerable anxiety
about his lungs, for they have always been
weak, and his father died of consumption.
1t is understood that his mother is anxious
to see him settled in life before he acquires
any. of the bad habits of his ancestors for
they have been wild lot. Soon after her
own marriage she left Madrid and went
back to her fathers house in Vienna be-
cause of her husbands behavior. but a few
months of this voluntary exile brought the
king to his senses. There was a reconcilia-
ton, and they lived happily together the
rest of his life. The morals of Alfonso XII
were patterned after those of his mother,
who is called Isabella the Bad and under
the theory of heredity could not have been
different. Considering the handicap he car
ried Of depraved ancestors, vicious example
and imperfect training, he was not only as
{ good man as could be expected, but
great deal better; so that he was beloved by
his people while he lived and sincerely
mourned when he died.
A New York newspaper some months ago
published a sensational article regarding
the immortality of Alfonso XIII, but 1t was
absolutely untrue and cruel libel He is
good boy and has been protected from
every vicious influence and example.
Limited in His Choice.
No other young man is so limited in his
choice Of wives, and he must marry one Of
his own relations There is nobody else to
pick from. His wife must be Catholic.
None but a member of that church could sit
on the throne of Spain. There may be girls
In the Protestant or Greek households Of
Europe who would change their religion to
IS
would not permit her son to marry an
apcstate. and only two royal Catholic fam
lies offer him a choice of wives. He has
two or three cousins and second cousins In
AUSTRIA and there has been some talk
about match with the Archduchess Eliza
beth, daughter Of the late Prince Rudolph
or Austria and the Princess Stephanie of
Belgium. but those who know tell me there
Is nothing In 1t, nor is there anything IN
the talk you may hive seen quoted in the
newspapers about his marrying a South
American girl. 2;
There was a story published in New York
that he had fallen in love with the daugh-
ter of an Argentine millionaire, and was
pursuing her with the ardorN of the trad:-
tonal Spanish lover in Violation of the re-
monstrances of his ministers, his mother
and the rest of the court but nobody in
Madrid had ever heard the story There is
no Argentine millionatre's daughter in
sight. and the traditions of the state would
not permit such a marriage
Nor could he select a wife from among
the daughters of the Spanish nobility The
other noble families would not permit it
NO court except that of Austria is so strict
and formal in its etiquette, and the women
of the. Spanish nobility would never bow
down before one of their own class. There
is no available young woman in the royal
family of Belgium, nor in that of Italy,
and those are the only other Catholic ma
tons.
His Mothers Selection.
pJrf
know that the queen mother has saved US
the trouble of hunting up wife for her
son, and has had one waiting for him, 10!
these many years, in the person of the
Princess Louise, daughter of the late Count
of Paris, who served as an aid de- camp to
Gen. Mcclellan during our civil war and
was a claimant for the throne of France
His family has furnished several royal con-
sorts, and they have all turned out well.
The Princess Louise Is said to be a charm
ing girl, beautiful in mind person and dis
position, and has been educated for the
throne of Spain, like her future husband
She is three years older than he, having
celebrated her twentieth birthday shortly
after he was seventeen. This, however, is
not serious matter.
Louise is half Spanish and second cousin
to the king, being the grandniece of his
grandmother, a relationship much farther
removed than has been usual among the
kings and queens Of Spain. There have
been five marriages between the two Bour-
bon families of Spain and Naples during the
last hundred years. and If there is any,
thing in the old theory that nature abhors
the marriage of relations the blood of the
dynasty must be very much diluted. Listen
to this a complication of relationships:
King Ferdinand VII of Spain had two
brothers, Don Francisco Paulo and Don
Carlos The latter contested the throne
after the death of Ferdinand and his son
Is the present pretender.
Ferdinand and Francisco married sisters,
their own nieces, Maria Christina and Car
lotta Of Naples. Another sister married
King Louise Philippe Of France.
Isabella, the daughter of Ferdinand, mar
ried her cousin, Francisco dAzzizi, Duke
of Cadiz, the son of Francisco Paulo, and
Maria, daughter of Francisco Paulo, mar
ried her cousin, the Duke of Montpensier,
son of Louis Philippe of France. The duke
has sought the hand Of Isabella, who was
then queen of Spain, but had to be satisfied
with the hand of her sister, his first cousin
Both marriages occurred the same day
Isabella was sixteen years old and Maria
was only fourteen.
Isabella had "a son, Alfonso XII, who,
when nineteen years old, married his cousin
Mercedes, the daughter of his mothers sis
ter Maria. She died five months later The
Infanta Eulalia, youngest daughter of ISa-
bella, married her cousin Antonio the son
of Maria and / leave it to the reader to
figure out what relation these young peo-
agree. They quarreled from the start and
are now divorced as far as the church will
permit. sPe4 <t
The Princess Louise.
Another daughter of Maria, and the sister
of Mercedes and Antonio, married the Count
of Paris, and has three daughters One of
them married the King of Portugal; an
other married the Duke, of Aosta. brother
of the King of Italy and the third, the
Princess Louise. according to the general
understanding, is waiting for, the King Of
Spain. She has spent nearly half her life
in Spain. Her mother has large estates
near Seville, with a fine Chateau and a
beautiful park which she occupies during
the winter months and spends her summers
in villa among the Italian lakes. In pass
ing through Madrid she Invariably stops
for visit sometimes of two or three weeks
at the royal palace. The Princess Louise
and King Alfonso have thus far been prac-
tically brought up together. There have
been several eligible suitors for the hand
of the young woman. and the fact that
none of them has received any encourage
ment is considered convincing evidence of
an understanding with the royal family of
Spain. While there is no formal engage
ment. or at least none has been announced
1t is believed that Alfonso and Louise have
heay1 pladQed IN each other sipoa tbax, ,ro-,