The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1905-03-25
is wlLHELmlNA AN OLD WOMAN AT "a?
Chicago Sunday Tribune,)

Why is it that Queen Wihelmina, the pa year
old queen of Holland, who year ago was a picture
of health and spirits, now looks and carries herself
like IA woman of 40! What is the mystery that has
suddenly stolen the bloom of youth away from her
checks and eyes and changed the happy hearted
Dutch girl to the serious, apparently unhappy Wo-
man, whose face indicates that deep sorrow is
eating out her heart and happiness.
That is what the good people Uf Holland arc
asking of each other. What is it that has brought
such change their queen
Surely there is something wrong, for young
women do not change as Wihelmina has done III
the last year without some serious cause Is it
true that her marriage with the handsome Prince
Henry of Necklenburg Schwerin, whom she appar
emily loves with all her heart is 50 unhappy as to
wreck her whole life! Or is the secret something
deeper and one of which nothing has been made
public! The people of Holland would give much
for a satisfactory answer to these questions
The unhappness of their young queen is the
great subject of thought and conversation in the
Dutch capital. Try as Wilhelmina will she is I'M
able to hide the fact that her life is not all that
young life should be. Every time she appears in
public, whether at the opera at court affairs or
when driving with her mother there are comments
and conjectures galore upon her changed appear
ance.
The last year has aged the queen more than do
twenty years with the average woman, and the fact
is not one to escape notice when woman is
queen.
81 saw Wilhelmina at the opera the other even
ing in Amsterdam," writes an American woman
from Holland, land l had a good look at her. In
deed for three hours | sat so close to her that
by standing up and extending my hand | could have
touched her / was inclined to do this in whm-
steal mood as gazed at her, for wanted to see if
she real.
''Wilhelmina is "a as l found on consulting the
court regsteron my return home that evening. But
for three hours l could have that she was A
Such change in such young girl, i'll four years
/ have never seen.
''When 1 met Wilhemina the first time it was
four years ago She was of medium height with
plump, sweet face You would nearly have called
her pretty. She had little fat of good shape
Her short upper lip curled back from set of white
teeth, and her chin was small but perfect III shape
She had a sweet face.
''Wilhelmina now is different woman. She is
nervous she never keeps STILL and she has changed
wocfully i'll looks
"Wilhelnlina now has hard look around the
mouth. Her lips are always tightly set together
even when she smiles, and there is a pinched look
to the once proud and pretty nose Wilhelmna is
sad in the face and there is deep look of unsettled
melancholy i'll her eyes.
During the evening Prince Henry appeared i'll
the back of the box. He drew the curtains and
stood in the shadow an instant. In a minute Will
hemina's whole aspect changed She became vivac
ous she smiled, she beckoned to him, she even tried
to flirt with him, poor Wilhelmina for she tapped
him with her fan leaning far back to do So and she
motioned him to come and take seat.
Prince Henry of Mecklenburg- Schwerin stands
six feet and more in his stockings. He is broad in
proportion and since he has begun to take on
flesh, he must weigh 200 pounds. If he keeps on
getting fat he viii be one of the biggest men in
Holland There are few taller than he and few
who are of more stalwart build. with broader
shoulders, or of a more robust frame
"Nihelmina first him in his uniform, and