The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-10-20

her s~ixty-third birthday and that she has
nine grandchildren she still retains her
youthful beauty. How she contrives to
keep Finn at hay is what the feminine con
iineent in a crowd watching her drive by
always asks. whether i, he in London or
Paris, Naples or Athens. For. barring a
iudicious and dsintily inconspicuous m
ploymeh, of quite legitimate cosmetics. the
Queen il not artificial looking.
Her case is the more surprising for the
reason that court life is a foe to good looks.
Royal ladies' as a rule fade 50 quickly that
ten years Of court life has about the same
effect IN a woman's beauty as two years
o. the washtub.
Since her elevation from the court Of
Denmark TO that of England Alexandra
has seen numberless rivals in beauty forced
by premature loss Of loveliness to resign
their claim. The Expresses of Fra ce and
Austria were her contemporaries and their
radiance and cameolike perfection Of fea-
ture all but threw her into the shade.
= To-day, q forlorn old woman. Eugene
lives In retirement with not avestige Of her
care ooloring and delicate contours left.
and on the day on which poor Elizabeth OF
Austria walked down the quay at Geneva
to the spot where the assassin waited for
her, dagger in hand. no human being would
have dreamed that she had once been the
wonder and admiration Of cheering crowds,
as Alexandra remains to this hour
In the last decade q dozen young women
have come to thrones and never been able
TO challenge her right to supremacy. In
one way or another their court careers have
reduced them finally to a bony or an obese
commonplaceness.
.,Eyen that pa rag OF physical perfection
the Empress of Russia has withered under
the stress Of maternal duties and the fears
she endures every day. The aDSieties she
has been called upon TO bear. allied to the
cruel strain Of Russian court ceremonies.
have aged and hardened her face till it
resembles a tragic mask. High living and
too little exercise have played the mischief
With the Queen OF Hollands charms and
sent Marguerite. the Queen Mother OF Italy.
into retirement.
But. as the years roll on. Alexandra
keeps her figure and her freshness, her
grace OF movement. her smooth cheek
her round throat and full bright eyes, and
Mt tbreascore and ten drives oat with her
husband looking very much like an eldest
daughter instead of a wife but eighteen
months bis junior
And perhaps in a dozen years more the
Queen of England will visibly change
little for the very excellent reason that
having the blessing OF good health and a
sense Of the value Of her looks-he does
everything in her power to protect herself
from the ravages OF time. Since she came
to London a bride she has guarded her
physical endowments with an intelligence
tina has had its reward
Perhaps no woman in the world studies
more faithfully and observes more self
sacriicingly than she the rules FOR beauty's
preservation. No one, for example. in or
about the court has ever seen the Queen
lose her temper
Undoubtedly. being the daughter OF a
pretty mother. old Queen Louise
Of Denmark. who ruled her household for
more than fifty years with q rod Of iron.
she has a temper to display il she wishes
to give il vent, but an ex-maid Of honor to
the Queen insists that her royal mistress
believes that nothing is more ~disaguring